Fosamax Update: Even Pharmaceutical-Company Sponsored Study Reveals Femur Fractures.
Despite a recent study, it is still clear that long time users of Fosamax face an increased risk of rare femur (thigh) bone fractures.
Many news organizations, such as Bloomberg Businessweek, are reporting about a small study that failed to find a significant relationship between rare thigh fractures and the use of bisphosphonates, such as Fosmax. These reports, however, failed to focus on who paid for the study. The pharmaceutical companies funded this small study in an attempt to refute prior studies suggesting that taking drugs like Fosamax, Actonel, or Boniva can result in rare thigh fractures. Fosamax is Merck's most profitable drug, accounting for 1.55 billion dollars in world-wide sales as recently as 2008. That much money is a strong incentive for companies to fund studies until they receive the result they are looking for. It is disconcerting to see major media outlets reporting the results of these studies without investigating their accuracy.
The dangers of Fosamax are clear, an industry sponsored study notwithstanding. The industry’s own study demonstrated that 17 of the 20 patients with unusual thigh fractures were taking these types of drugs. 15 of those 20 were on Fosamax. Even the doctors behind that industry sponsored study acknowledged that the “next step” in research would be to “figure out which subset of patients may be at heightened risk for the breaks.” As noted in a previous post the United Kingdom’s Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency published information in March, 2009 regarding “atypical stress fractures” in patients taking bisphosphonates such as Fosamax. The United States federal Food & Drug Administration has is “aware of and investigating” the connection between Fosamax and femur fractures.
The attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Nefzger are currently representing people who have been injured by Fosamax in multi-district litigation in the Southern District of New York. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Shawn Cantley directly by clicking here: profile.
For the full text of the Bloomberg article, click here.
For prior posts regarding Fosamax and femur fractures, click here and here.
