However, the bad news is doctors cannot prescribe the new drug yet and it would not certainly be available in a chemist’s shop anytime in the near future.
An international team of scientists, including researchers from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, have just found the exciting properties of a new molecule. But it may take years even to start the clinical trial.
The new drug’s discovery was reported in “Nature Medicine” on Monday.
Osteoporosis is a disease of low bone mass often caused by excessive loss and poor formation of bones. It is very common in post-menopausal women.
The bones of elderly osteoporotic women have a spongy look with tiny cavities. Because of so many holes, bones become brittle and break often.
It’s not that there is no medicine for osteoporosis in the market. The current treatment is daily injection of parathyroid hormone. But the new molecule – LP533401 – appears to be much more promising.
“It encourages bone formation. The compound has both prevented and treated osteoporosis through an increase in bone formation. An additional advantage is it is an oral drug and not an injection,” Gerard Karsenty, the principal investigator at the Columbia University medical centre in New York , told Deccan Herald.
The molecule’s startling efficacy in treating bone loss was established through a series of experiments in which rats and mice were administered the medicine orally for four to six weeks. The rat experiments were carried out at the IISc.
The new drug is more efficient because it exploits a completely new path hitherto unexplored in osteoporosis treatment. It inhibits synthesis of a body chemical known as serotonin in the gut.
Serotonin is a known neurotransmitter. It is present in the brain regulating the body’s biological clock among other things.
But serotonin produced in the gut, decreases bone formation, which in turn, is blocked by the new molecule. “It is a totally new therapeutic concept,” said Anil K Balapure, one of the team members and a scientist at CDRI. The molecule was discovered by a small biotech firm. Karsenty and colleagues showed its novel application in treating osteoporosis.