On May 26, the PUMCH prospective intervention study of osteoporotic re-fractures (Sequential Therapy with Teriparatide and Denosumab, STAND study) enrolled the first patient, marking essential strides in a major project led by Xia Weibo, Director of the Department of Endocrinology, under the central high-level special program of clinical research. The project aims to characterize the re-fractures of osteoporosis patients in China, explore effective prevention and treatment strategies, reduce the risk of fracture and lower the disease burden.

As population ageing picks up the pace, China is now home to over 90 million patients of osteoporosis, the highest in the world. Osteoporosis is a grave threat to the health of middle-aged and elderly people, and osteoporotic fractures cause not only a high rate of disability and death but also a heavy social and economic burden.

To crack the tough nut, Professor Xia Weibo’s team from the Department of Endocrinology of PUMCH applied for funding support for major research from the central high-level special program of clinical research and spearheads the research on the key technologies for osteoporotic re-fractures prevention and treatment. The team conducts registry-based follow-up and prospective intervention study on patients with recently osteoporotic fractures, and also studies their serum and imaging biomarkers. The purposes are to find out the incidence of re-fractures and the risk factors in patients with osteoporosis, establish effective treatment strategies to reduce the risk of osteoporotic re-fractures, and finally put in place a precision diagnosis and treatment system for such conditions.

This study has received strong support from various parties. A total of 52 research centers nationwide participated in the study. Peking University Clinical Research Institute, a key partner, provided technical supports in study design optimization, project management, data management and statistical analysis for the project. Mabwell (Shanghai) Bioscience Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. provided free drugs for the study.

According to Professor Xia Weibo, this study holds the potential for establishing a more acceptable and cost-effective osteoporosis treatment strategies to reduce the risk of re-fractures, presenting the best clinical evidence for the prevention and treatment of re-fractures in Chinese osteoporosis patients and, providing important evidence to inform the development of domestic and international guidelines for osteoporosis and national health policies.

Written by Chen Xiao

Picture courtesy of the Department of Endocrinology

Translated by Liu Haiyan

Edited by Xiao Xiong, Yang Hongbo and Wang Yao