Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a systematic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass, increase of bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture.

Types of Osteoporosis and its causes

1. Primary osteoporosis(Type I (postmenopausal) or Type II (senile) ):
   1. Type I (postmenopausal): Generally develops in women after menopause when the amount of estrogen in the body greatly decreases. This process leads to an increase in the resorption of bone (the bones loses substance).
   2. Type II (senile): This involves a thinning of both the trabecular bone (the spongy bone inside of the hard cortical bone) and the hard cortical bone. This process often leads to hip and vertebral body (in the spine) fractures.
2. Secondary osteoporosis: Secondary osteoporosis has the same symptoms as primary osteoporosis. However, it occurs as a result of having certain medical conditions, such as hyperthyroidism or leukemia. It may also occur as a result of taking medications known to cause bone breakdown, such as oral or high-dose inhaled corticosteroids (if used for more than 6 months), too high a dose of thyroid replacement, or aromatase inhibitors (used to treat breast cancer).
3. Osteogenesis imperfecta: Osteogenesis imperfecta is a rare form of osteoporosis that is present at birth. Osteogenesis imperfecta causes bones to break for no apparent reason.
4. Idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis:Idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis is rare. It occurs in children between the ages of 8 and 14 or during times of rapid growth. There is no known cause for this type of osteoporosis, in which there is too little bone formation or excessive bone loss.

Incidence

• 1 in 3 women over 50 will suffer a fracture due to osteoporosis; this increases to 1 in 2 over 60.
• 1 in 5 men over 50 will suffer a fracture due to osteoporosis; this increases to 1 in 3 over 60.
• Approximately 1.6 million hip fractures occur each year worldwide, the incidence is set to increase to 6.3 million by 2050.
• The highest risk of hip fractures are seen in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and the USA.
• Currently, there is an increasing incidence of hip fractures in the developed cities in Asia. 1 out of 4 hip fractures occur in Asia and Latin America. This number of hip fractures will increase to 1 in 2 by 2050.
• In the Middle East, the burden of osteoporosis in the general population is expected to increase and is becoming a heavy financial burden.7
• The annual incidence rate of osteoporotic fractures in women is greater than the combined incidence rates of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer. (International osteoporosis foundation)

Prevalence

• 28 million Americans (10 million with osteoporosis; 18 million with low bone mass); eight million American women and 2 million men (NWHIC)(approx 1 in 9 or 10.29% or 28 million people in USA ).
• Total prevalence rate of osteoporosis in the middle- aged and elderly in China was 16. 1% in 2002. The prevalence rate among males was 11. 5% and among females was 19. 9%.
• Prevalence increase to 2.2 million in 2006 and 3 million in 2021 in Australia.
• The prevalence of Khon Kaen (Thai rural area) women has osteporosis in femoral neck and lumbar spine is 19.3% and 24.7% respectively. (International osteoporosis foundation)

Overall categorization of osteoporosis treatments

Products in market

Product pipeline

Devices

Search strategy

• Database/Vendor: Micropat
• Search scope: US Granted US Applications EP-A EP-B WO JP (bibliographic data only) DE-C,B DE-A DE-T DE-U GB-A FR-A; Claims
• Years: Issue/Publication Date: >20051231
• Search String: ((Osteoporosis OR (bone Near3 regeneration)) AND (treatment))
• Hits: 1261/982 patents (with/with out family members)
• Date of search: 14th September 2007

Top players and IPC classes

Geographical Distribution and Treatment Approaches

IP activity and Treatment Approaches

• Decline in the IP activity during 2006 and 2007 is due 18 months publication delay of patent document.

International Conference on Osteoporosis and Bone Research to be held on Oct 15-18, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 IOF World Congress on Osteoporosis to be held on December 2-7, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand

2007 World Congress on Osteoarthritis, being held December 6 - 9, 2007 at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa in fabulous Ft. Lauderdale, Florida!