SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- California researchers say a hormone-drug combination shows promise in treatment for loss of bone density.
The San Jose Mercury News reports a study at the University of California, San Francisco, showed a year of Forteo -- a parathyroid hormone that builds bone -- followed by a year of the bone loss-prevention prescription drug Fosamax, increased bone density an average of 12 percent.
That is significant because Forteo is costly and is not supposed to be used for more than two years because of possible links to cancer. Studies have shown that patients who take Forteo for a year and then stop lose almost all the bone density they gained.
The researchers tracked 238 women in four cities and discovered that the Forteo-Fosamax combination worked better than either treatment by itself.
