0:00
Hello.
I'm Dr. Michael McClung, the
director of the Oregon Osteoporosis
Center in Portland, Oregon.
I'm very happy to be a part of this
Henry Stewart Talk series entitled
bone in health and disease.
The series editor,
Professor Compston,
has asked me to address the topic
of pharmacotherapy of osteoporosis.
0:23
On the next slide are listed my
current financial disclosures.
I have relationships with
several of the drug companies
that make the drugs that
we'll be discussing today.
Over the past 20
years, I and my center
have been involved
with clinical studies
with virtually all of the drugs
that are approved for osteoporosis,
and at least in that context,
have had a financial relationship
with those companies.
0:50
In previous parts of this series,
the definition of osteoporosis
has been described.
It is a disorder that is due to
bone loss that results in a damage
to the architecture of
the skeleton, resulting
in a weakening of the skeleton
and an increased risk of fracture.
The objectives of
pharmacotherapy are twofold.
The primary objective is to
protect the patient from fracture,
and to reduce the risk of fractures
by strengthening the skeleton.
There are patients who are
not at high risk for fracture,
but who are about to
experienced rapid bone loss.
And there are instances when some
drugs are used for a short time
to prevent the rapid
bone loss that may
be occurring in certain patients.
And we'll talk about that a
little later in the presentation.
