Context: Weekly teriparatide injection at a dose of 56.5 μg has been shown to increase bone mineral density.
Objective: A phase 3 study was conducted to determine the efficacy of once-weekly teriparatide injection for reducing the incidence of vertebral fractures in patients with osteoporosis.
Design and setting: In this randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in Japan, the incidence of morphological vertebral fractures by radiographs was assessed.
Patients: Subjects were 578 Japanese patients between the ages of 65 and 95 yr who had prevalent vertebral fracture.
Intervention: Subjects were randomly assigned to receive once-weekly s.c. injections of teriparatide (56.5 μg) or placebo for 72 wk.
Main outcome measure: The primary endpoint was the incidence of new vertebral fracture.
Results: Once-weekly injections of teriparatide reduced the risk of new vertebral fracture with a cumulative incidence of 3.1% in the teriparatide group, compared with 14.5% in the placebo group (P < 0.01), and a relative risk of 0.20 (95% confidence interval, 0.09 to 0.45). At 72 wk, teriparatide administration increased bone mineral density by 6.4, 3.0, and 2.3% at the lumbar spine, the total hip, and the femoral neck, respectively, compared with the placebo (P < 0.01). Adverse events (AE) and the dropout rates by AE were more frequently experienced in the teriparatide group, but AE were generally mild and tolerable.
Conclusion: Weekly s.c. administration of teriparatide at a dose of 56.5 μg may provide another option of anabolic treatments in patients with osteoporosis at higher fracture risk.