Tiludronate, an oral bisphosphonate used to treat Paget's disease of bone, is currently being studied as a treatment for osteoporosis. A multicenter, open-label, parallel-group study was performed to compare the efficacy of two tablet formulations of tiludronate in the treatment of Paget's disease. Eighty-eight patients with active Paget's disease were recruited. The diagnosis was based on radiologic evidence of bone lesions, and all patients included in the study had serum alkaline phosphatase (SAP) levels equal to or more than twice the upper normal value of the local laboratory that assayed the sample. Each patient received treatment with oral tiludronate 400 mg/d for 84 +/- 2 days; 39 patients received the previously tested tablet formulation 3C1, and 49 patients received formulation 9O1, which is prepared using an improved manufacturing technique. The objective of this study was to determine whether the two formulations have an equivalent therapeutic effect, the primary end point being SAP levels in both groups after 3 months of treatment. This equivalence is commonly assessed by comparing pharmacokinetic data; however, in previous studies of tiludronate, large intra-individual variability prevented statistically valid comparisons of the data. Therefore, in addition to pharmacokinetic data, biochemical and clinical response data were collected during the trial. The secondary objectives of the trial were to measure the plasma levels and to assess the efficacy and safety of the two tiludronate formulations. The relative pharmacologic activities of the two formulations were assessed by comparison of the confidence intervals of levels of SAP at monthly intervals. After 3 months of treatment, the 90% confidence interval of the difference between the formulations was included in the reference confidence interval. These findings suggest that the 9O1 and 3C1 formulations did not show a significant difference in therapeutic activity. Furthermore, after 3 months of treatment, the frequency of normalization of SAP levels was 30.6% in the 9O1 treatment group and 28.2% in the 3C1 treatment group. The percentage of patients responding to treatment (defined as a decrease in SAP levels of at least 50% from baseline) was 67.3% in the 9O1 treatment group and 69.2% in the 3C1 treatment group. Statistical analyses performed on the maximum and minimum plasma concentrations of tiludronate showed no significant differences between the two formulations. In this trial, the two tablet formulations of tiludronate demonstrated therapeutic and pharmacokinetic equivalence.

Administration, Oral↗

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Osseous and intestinal compartments in the humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy associated to Walker 256 tumor in rats.

The objective of the present work has been to study some aspects of bone and intestinal compartments in rats with Walker 256 carcinosarcoma, an experimental model of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM). The results have been compared to those obtained in control animals and, also, to those obtained in Yoshida sarcoma-bearing rats, which were used as tumoral controls without hypercalcemia. Urinary hydroxyproline/creatinine ratio (OHProl/creat) is increased, in both Walker 256 and Yoshida tumor-bearing animals, showing the nonspecifity of this bone marker. However, serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) levels are increased in Walker 256 tumor-bearing animals, but they are normal in Yoshida tumor-bearing animals, indicating that TRAP is a better index of bone resorption than OHProl/creat in the HHM syndrome. The decrease of bone calcium content in Walker 256 tumor-bearing rats, not shown by Yoshida-bearing rats, also reflects an increased bone resorption due to HHM. Serum and bone osteocalcin levels are similar in control, Walker 256 and Yoshida tumor-bearing rats, but we observed a decrease in serum alkaline phosphatase levels in Walker 256 and Yoshida tumor-bearing animals, which could also be a nonspecific tumor effect, due to the presence of the neoplasia. Our results support the convenience of the employment of a nonhypercalcemic tumor group as control in the HHM study, in addition to the healthy controls. We have also observed higher 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D serum levels in Walker 256 tumor-bearing rats than in control and Yoshida tumor-bearing rats. On the other hand, we have found normal levels in the fractional rate of intestinal calcium absorption in Walker-256 tumor-bearing rats, in spite of their high calcium levels, and a significant decrease of this parameter in Yoshida sarcoma-bearing animals. These results support the concomitant contribution of intestinal compartment to hypercalcemia, in the experimental model of HHM studied.

Acid Phosphatase↗

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