According to a new study, successful testing of a drug on mice, holds out hope for osteoporosis sufferers.
A drug which is still in the experimental stage was tested on mice who were cured of osteoporosis. The new drug inhibits the synthesis of serotonin in the gut and seen to promote bone formation.
The researchers found that a small daily dose of the new drug administered for 6 weeks to post menopausal mice could not only prevent osteoporosis but also remedy existing osteoporosis by actually increasing bone formation.
If found viable, the new drug could offer path breaking hope to current osteoporosis sufferers. Currently available medicine is able to only slow down or halt progress of the disease by preventing bone breakdown but not actually build new bone tissue.
“New therapies that inhibit the production of serotonin in the gut have the potential to become a [new] class of drugs to be added to the therapeutic arsenal against osteoporosis,” study author Dr. Gerard Karsenty, chairman of the department of genetics and development at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, was quoted as having said.
