Amgen cancer drug trials show significantly reduced fracture risk

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Amgen’s cancer drug denosumab cuts fracture risk in cancer patients and women with postmenopausal osteoporosis, tests have shown.

According to early results released by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the experimental cancer drug reduced fracture risk in 64 percent of the 111 patients tested, most of whom had breast and prostate tumors. Breast and prostate cancer are two types of cancer likely to spread to bones.

Results of Phase III testing of the drug released last month showed increases in bone mineral density among women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Those tests examined 332 patients over a two-year period in which subjects received injections of denosumab twice a year.

Denosumab is a genetically engineered antibody that inhibits RANK Ligand, a protein that contributes to bone loss.