Forteo fares better than Fosamax in Lilly study

BOSTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Forteo, the injected osteoporosis drug from Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N), is better for preserving the bones of people taking bone-damaging glucocorticoid drugs than Merck and Co Inc's (MRK.N) Fosamax pill, Lilly said on Wednesday.

The research, financed by Lilly and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the rate of spine fractures after 18 months was less than 1 percent, compared with just over 6 percent in the group receiving Fosamax, the standard therapy.

But the risk of other types of bone fractures was essentially the same regardless if whether patients received Forteo, also known as teriparatide or Forsteo in the European Union, or Fosamax, also known as alendronate.

The full trial of 428 volunteers will run for three years.

Glucocorticoids are given to 3 percent of Americans over 50 for conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But the drugs also increase the risk of osteoporosis, which is why the new study, led by Dr. Kenneth Saag of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, compared the two osteoporosis drugs.

Both bone-building drugs generated similar side effects, but Forteo caused less nausea and insomnia than Fosamax.

The results were originally released June 15 at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona. (Reporting by Gene Emery, editing by Maggie Fox)