Osteoporotic fractures are often seen as a normal part of getting older, but the numbers show they are actually a serious problem.
According to Professor Philippe Pioletti- without effective preventive care, about 40% of women over 50 will experience at least one major fracture related to osteoporosis. For men, it’s roughly 20%.
What many don’t realize is just how devastating these fractures can be. Among older adults, a break in the femoral neck — the narrow bridge just below the hip can be life threatening. Mortality rates reach 20% within a year, and more than half of those affected never regain their former mobility.
Standard osteoporosis treatments rely on drugs that either slow down bone breakdown or stimulate new bone growth. But there’s a catch: these medications can take up to a year to fully kick in, leaving patients at risk of fractures in the meantime.
That’s where a team led by Pioletti at EPFL spin-off Flowbone is changing the game.
Together with Vincent Stadelmann from Zurich’s Schulthess Klinik, the researchers have developed a cutting-edge injectable hydrogel designed to rapidly reinforce weak bones. Their new approach, combining the hydrogel with traditional drug treatments, showed remarkable results in preclinical tests.
In a recent study published in Bone, the combined therapy increased bone density in rat legs by four to five times — and in as little as two to four weeks.
“We’re showing, for the first time, that pairing a locally delivered hydrogel with system-wide drug therapy can rapidly boost bone density. This could be a breakthrough in preventing fractures,” Pioletti explains.
A New Weapon Against Bone Loss
While most osteoporosis medications are delivered systemically circulating through the whole body — the few local treatments available tend to be paste-like substances that harden into bone cement.
Flowbone’s hydrogel is different. It’s made of hyaluronic acid and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, which are similar to the minerals found in bone. It can be easily injected into targeted areas, such as where bone is thinning near a planned implant.
The research team found that even when used alone, the hydrogel led to a two- to three-fold increase in local bone density. But the most dramatic gains came when it was combined with systemic drugs specifically, a bone-building parathyroid hormone and a bone-preserving agent called Zoledronate. The bone got up to 4.8 times denser near the injection spot. “These results suggest our hydrogel can act as a rapid support system,” says Pioletti. “It gives local bone a boost while longer-term systemic therapies do their work.”
Clinical Trials
The Flowbone team has seen good results in animals and is now getting ready to test on humans.
Pioletti said, “We’re waiting for approval from health authorities.”
He also said, “At first, we’re focusing on patients who need fast bone support, like before getting a bone implant. But in the future, we want to go further and help stop bone fractures caused by osteoporosis.”
Hopefully this game changer btreatment will easily available soon for the patient whom suffering from osteoporosis.
