[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/is-forteo-a-new-bone-wonder-drug-not-really\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/is-forteo-a-new-bone-wonder-drug-not-really\/","headline":"Is Forteo™ a new bone wonder drug? Not really!","name":"Is Forteo™ a new bone wonder drug? Not really!","description":"Print PDF eBook Facebook Twitter Gmail LinkedIn Pinterest Forteo™ is promoted as a rising star on the osteoporosis scene, a bone drug that actually builds new bone, rather than just halting bone loss. By various mechanisms, Forteo \u201ctricks\u201d the body into building substantial new bone mass and short-term studies show Forteo actually reduces fracture more […]","datePublished":"2009-06-24","dateModified":"2026-04-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/#Person","name":"Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/","identifier":72,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Center for Better Bones","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","width":150,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/osteoporosis-blog.jpg","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/osteoporosis-blog.jpg","height":512,"width":1024},"url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/is-forteo-a-new-bone-wonder-drug-not-really\/","about":["Bone Drugs"],"wordCount":214,"keywords":["forteo"],"articleBody":" Print PDF eBook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwitter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGmail\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinterest\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tForteo™ is promoted as a rising star on the osteoporosis scene, a bone drug that actually builds new bone, rather than just halting bone loss. By various mechanisms, Forteo \u201ctricks\u201d the body into building substantial new bone mass and short-term studies show Forteo actually reduces fracture more than other bone drugs. Sure, it is very expensive and has to be given by daily self-administered injections, but still, the large bone density increases and unprecedented reduction of both spinal and hip fractures are impressive.While all this sounds great, when we look more carefully, we see Forteo has a variety of serious drawbacks and side effects. First, it is experimental and poorly tested. It also brings with it a series of potential adverse effects. These adverse effects include the development of bone cancer in animals, the potential to cause excessive new bone formation, high blood calcium, nausea, immunologic responses, leg cramps, hypotension, depression, and dizziness. For these reasons (not to mention its expense), I do not think Forteo is a worthwhile option for the treatment of osteoporosis in the majority of patients.To read my full analysis of the Forteo drug, see my article Forteo™ \u2013 is this bone drug too good to be true?. "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Bone Drugs","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Forteo™ a new bone wonder drug? Not really!","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/is-forteo-a-new-bone-wonder-drug-not-really\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]