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OSTEOPOROSIS (OP)
Clinical
Osteoporosis (OP) is a condition in which
bones become structurally weak and susceptible to fractures.
Prevalence is high,
with 10 million Americans alone with the disease and another
34 million with low bone mass and at risk for future osteoporosis.
Eighty percent are women. Overall, 50% of women over the
age of 50 and 25% of men over the age of 50 will have an
osteoporosis-related fracture at some point in their life.
Every year 1.5 million fractures costing $17 billion occur
secondary to osteoporosis in the US alone. The personal
cost can be very high – the mortality rate from a
fractured hip, which affects 300,000 Americans per year,
is 25%. In perspective, a woman's risk of hip fracture
is equal to her combined risk of uterine, breast and ovarian
cancer.
Bone strength is primarily related to the extent of mineralization.
Osteoclasts (bone resorbing cells) and osteoblasts (bone
forming cells) continually turn over and remodel bone.
The overall state of bone mineralization is dependent
on the balance between formation and resoprtion. The
current mainstay of treatment, the bisphosphonates, are
primarily aimed at decreasing the rate of bone resorption.
DanioLabs approach
DanioLabs approach is to tip the balance of bone formation and
resorption back in favour of bone formation, either through
osteoblast stimulation, osteoclast inhibition, or both.
As well as investigating primary osteoporosis, DanioLabs is also
investigating next generation corticosteroids with potent
anti-inflammatory action but less osteoporosis inducing
side effect. Similiary, DanioLabs is investigating next generation
anti-oestrogens for the treatment of breast cancer, with
less osteoporosis inducing side effect.
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