Every three seconds someone in the world breaks a bone because of osteoporosis – a disease in which bones become thin and porous. Osteoporotic fractures cost the UK around £4.5 billion each year, with hip fractures alone accounting for 69,000 emergency admissions into English hospitals.
Cambridge University research and advisory work has underpinned the development of a novel treatment and diagnostics that have transformed the management of osteoporosis and improved health and wellbeing of women with severe osteoporosis.
These include the development of romosozumab, a major new therapeutic that prevents osteoporotic fractures by blocking the bone protein sclerostin (Europe-wide approval, 2019), and the use of femoral Quantitative Computed Tomography for diagnosing osteoporosis (incorporated in the FRAX online fracture risk calculator used by 66 countries worldwide). Over 100,000 women have received romosozumab for severe osteoporosis worldwide.
