[Therapeutic practice of bisphosphonate use and related pharmaceutical issues I]

The therapeutic use of Bisphosphonates was common in Hungary for the past two and a half decades. The main clinical application of Bisphosphonates is the therapy of osteoporosis and bone manifestations of malignant diseases. Patients' quality of life depends on the prevalence of the typical fragility fractures and their complications. Bisphosphonates are the basis of the therapy in both therapeutic areas, since they are able to decrease progression of the disease. In patients with good compliance adequate therapy is proven to minimize the number of bone fractures. In the present paper we summarize the pharmacological knowledge of the therapeutic use of Bisphosphonates in the two main therapeutic areas: osteoporosis and osseal manifestations of malignancies. In the second part of our paper we present analysis of the prescribed bisphosphonate drug use, reimbursed by the National Health Insurance Fund. Our results provide data on the changes of druguse and reimbursement strategy of Bisphosphonates in Hungary. Our data highlights the fact that pharmacists have to pay a special attention to the growing aging population affected by osteoporosis, moreover there should be a special focus on osteoporotic patients, since there is a decreasing rate of treated patients. To help lowering this therapeutic gap in osteoporosis, pharmacists should take an active role in the therapy management.