Introduction: Osteoporosis represents a major health and societal burden in men, as well as in women. However, only a minority of men are screened and treated for osteoporosis and fracture prevention, even after first fracture.
Areas covered: This article provides a comprehensive summary of the currently available drugs for osteoporosis in men as well as insights into new and developing pharmacotherapy.
Expert opinion: To date, therapeutic approaches to osteoporosis in men remain not as well defined as in women, since antifracture efficacy data are lacking for most approved pharmaceuticals. Based on the currently available evidence, bisphosphonates are generally recommended as first line pharmacotherapy in men. Conceptually, osteoanabolic agents, such as teriparatide could be more appropriate for men with primary osteoporosis and low bone turnover. However, osteoanabolic agents display a limited anabolic window during which their stimulatory effects on bone formation prevail over the increase in bone resorption and their use, for theoretical safety reasons, is limited to a cumulative duration of two years. Due to the recent advances in bone biology, future drugs for osteoporosis in men might include more selective antiresorptive compounds which do not markedly inhibit bone formation as well as newer osteoanabolic agents that appear to more selectively stimulate bone formation.
Keywords: Male osteoporosis; SARMs; abaloparatide; bisphosphonate; cathepsin k inhibitors; denosumab; sclerostin inhibitors; teriparatide; testosterone replacement.