First, a trip down memory lane on the use of bone drugs for the prevention of hip fractures. It is now 16 years since Merck’s widely prescribed Fosamax went on the market. In time, it was prescribed inappropriately to women with so-called “pre-osteoporosis” or osteopenia (yet-another drug maker-invented “disease”). It was also prescribed inappropriately to women in their early 50s, thanks to Merck’s marketing strategies that made us think we would start crumbling inside right after menopause. Then came the reports of osteonecrosis of the jaw and spontaneous thighbone fractures in some women on Fosamax. And now, the latest bulletin on Fosamax and its knock-offs like Actonel, Reclast, and Boniva: If you have been on one of these drugs for five years, stop taking it.![]()
