[LLY MRK] EU faces escalating costs of osteoporosis
Wednesday June 10, 7:15 am Eastern Time
By Suzanne Perry
BRUSSELS, June 10 (Reuters) - Osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease that afflicts
mostly older women, threatens to impose a huge financial burden on Europe's health
services over the next few decades, a report issued on Wednesday said.
The disease, which leaves sufferers vulnerable to hip and spine fractures, deformities
and chronic pain, is expected to grow dramatically in the European Union as life
expectancy increases and the post-war baby boom generation ages, it said.
Although osteoporosis can be prevented or reversed through relatively simple
treatments, governments and healthcare providers have given it a low priority, the report noted.
''There has been considerable progress in the understanding of the causes, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis,'' said the report, prepared by a group of medical experts for the European Commission with support from the European Foundation for Osteoporosis (EFFO).
''However, the disease is often neglected and many individuals ... remain undiagnosed and untreated.''
The study, the first of its kind in the EU, precedes World Osteoporosis Day on June 24, which EFFO is co-sponsoring with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It called on the 15 EU countries to give priority to monitoring osteoporosis and increasing public awareness about how to prevent and treat it -- through diet, exercise and drugs.
It cited some alarming statistics: One in eight Europeans over 50 will suffer a spine fracture and one in three women and one in nine men over 80 a hip fracture because of osteoporosis.
Annual hip fractures in the EU are expected to more than double over the next 50 years -- from 414,000 to 972,000.
Hospital care for osteoporosis patients costs EU national budgets more than 3.5 billion Ecus ($3.9 billion) a year.
The ''brittle bone disease'' hits many women when they reach menopause and their bodies start producing less oestrogen, although men can suffer too.
The experts stressed the importance of preventive action.
''Prevention is very important even in old age,'' Dr. Steven Boonen, clinical coordinator of Belgium's Leuven University Center for Metabolic Bone Diseases, told Reuters. ''It's never too late to prevent fractures of the hip.''
The report prescribed a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, physical activity during childhood and adolescence, exercise to improve muscle tone and reduce pain of sufferers, hip protectors and early detection of bone loss.
It also highlighted a range of medications available to fight osteoporosis -- including hormone replacement therapy, oestrogen derivatives and a new generation of drugs known as ''selective oestrogen receptor modulators'' (SERM).
While the growth of osteoporosis is bad news for healthcare budgets, it will create a lucrative market for pharmaceutical companies, some of which helped fund the new European study.
A 1997 report by U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter estimated the global osteoporosis therapeutic market would expand from $3.1 billion in 1997 to $9.5 billion in 2003, with the EU market at about $3 billion.
It said new agents such as Eli Lilly and Co's (LLY.N.) ralixofene, known as Evista, and Merck & Co's (MRK - news) alendrolate, or Fosamax, were likely to win market share over older and less effective treatments.
Evista is an SERM, a class of drug that aims to mimic the positive effects of oestrogen on the skeletal system while inhibiting negative effects such as increased risk of cancer.
SmithKline Beecham Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SB.L), Pfizer Inc (PFE - news) and Novo Nordisk (NVOb.CO) are developing similar products, although early sales for Evista fell short of analysts' expectations. |
