Study adds evidence that bone drugs work

? A new study gives reassuring news about the safety of Fosamax and Reclast, bone-building drugs taken by millions of American women. It found that long-term use does not significantly raise the risk of a rare type of fracture near the hip.

On balance, these drugs prevent far more fractures than any they may cause when used to treat the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, said the study’s leader, Dr. Dennis Black of the University of California, San Francisco.

“If we treated 1,000 osteoporotic women for three years, we estimate you would prevent 100 fractures,” at a possible cost of one or fewer of the unusual bone breaks examined in this study, he said.