Advances in teriparatide-based treatment of osteoporotic fractures

Osteoporotic fracture is a severe complication of osteoporosis, with very high mortality and disability rate, which may significantly deteriorate the health and quality-of-life of elderly patients. Surgical fixation is the main treatment currently. But there is still no effective intervention on early osteoporosis. Teriparatide is a synthetic polypeptide parathyroid hormone, the only drug found so far, can promote bone formation and metabolism. As a result of its unique mechanism of action on bone, it leads to be adopted as the only anabolic therapy for osteoporosis. This unique advantage may provide a new method for treatment of osteoporotic fractures. Thus, the therapeutic mechanism of teriparatide on osteoporotic fractures and its application are introduced in this article.