New form of drug to help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

A new form of the drug to treat osteoporosis that comes with the potential for fewer side effects and may provide a new option for patients, suggest the findings of a new study led by a team of researchers from Purdue University. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in Biophysical Journal, the innovators developed a stabilized form of human calcitonin, which is a peptide drug already used for people with osteoporosis. Researchers created a prodrug form of the peptide hormone to increase its effectiveness as an osteoporosis treatment.

In humans, calcitonin is the hormone responsible for normal calcium homeostasis. When prescribed to osteoporosis patients, calcitonin inhibits bone resorption, resulting in increased bone mass. Unfortunately, human calcitonin undergoes fibrillation in aqueous solution, leading to reduced efficacy when used as a therapeutic. As a substitute, osteoporosis patients have prescribed salmon calcitonin. It does not fibrillate as rapidly but suffers from a low potency and the potential for several adverse side effects.

Elizabeth Topp, a Purdue professor of physical and industrial pharmacy said, "The technology can help make these calcitonin drugs safer and more effective. Our approach will increase the therapeutic potential of human calcitonin, promising a more effective option to replace salmon calcitonin for osteoporosis and related disorders." To decrease the fibrillation propensity and increase the therapeutic benefit of human calcitonin, Purdue researchers phosphorylated specific amino acid residues.

"Many promising new peptide drugs tend to form fibrils. This technology provides a way to stabilize them in a reversible way so that the stabilizing modification comes off when the drug is given to the patient," Topp said. (ANI)

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