Aberdeen scientists set up unique clinical trial into common bone disease
A team of scientists are setting up a major clinical trial into Paget's disease, a common form of bone disease which affects up to one million people in the UK. They hope the study will answer vital questions about the condition which have eluded medics for the past 25 years.
The research team, led by Professor Stuart Ralston from the department of medicine and therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen, will recruit up to 1,500 patients from all over the UK.
The four-year trial, funded largely by a grant of £734,000 from the Arthritis Research Campaign, is the first of its kind in the world, and will be the largest study of Paget's disease treatment ever to be conducted.
People with Paget's disease have accelerated bone growth, particularly in the skull, pelvis, spine, and thigh and shinbones. The disease commonly causes bone pain but other problems such as bone deformity and bone fractures can also occur. Many patients suffer deafness when disease strikes bones of the inner ear.
"Over the past 25 years, increasingly effective drug treatments have been developed which can reduce bone turnover in Paget's disease," explained Professor Ralston. "The most potent inhibitors are the bisphosphonate group of drugs, but we do not yet know whether these drugs prevent serious complications such as bone fractures, bone deformity or deafness, which is caused by expansion of bone in the inner ear."
"We hope to answer this key question, which has intrigued clinicians ever since these drugs were first used in the mid 1970s," he added.
The trial is also being supported by a £135,00 grant from the Alliance for Better Bone Health (Aventis and Proctor and Gamble) and £100,000 from the National Association for the Relief of Paget's Disease).
The Arthritis Research Campaign is a major funder of research into arthritic conditions throughout the UK, and currently funds 20 grants in Aberdeen, totalling £3.86m.
- For more information on Paget's disease contact the National Association for the Relief of Paget's disease on 0161 799 4646.
