Over 70s to get PBS bisphosphonates.

Australian Doctor,  January, 2007  by Saunders, Cathy

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By Cathy Saunders

GPs have been advised to case-find patients over 70 at high risk of osteoporosis-related fracture who would benefit from the recent extended PBS subsidy of bisphosphonates.

From 1 April, alendronate (Fosamax Once Weekly and Alendro Once Weekly) will be PBS-subsidised for patients over 70 with a bone mineral density (BMD) of -3.0 or less, a softening of the previous requirement that limited the subsidy to patients who had already sustained minimal trauma fracture.

Changes to the eligibility criteria will translate to an extra 40,000 patients accessing the ...

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