In Honor of World Osteoporosis Day – Bone Health is Personal
Almost four years ago, I had my second dexa scan and got the news that I have learned is typical: in the five years after menopause, my bone density went from normal to osteopenia. I lost 13% of my bone density in my spine. I got a weirdly chipper note from my OB-GYN’s nurse. ”You have osteopenia. Typical for your age, be sure to keep exercising and getting enough calcium. Basically, keep doing what you’ve been doing. Keep doing what hasn’t worked to prevent bone loss over the prior five years, when I had been exercising and getting my calcium (and had normal vitamin D, PTH, CA level etc).
This was a gut punch. I saw my grandmother lose height, likely from many vertebral compression fractures, and know osteoporosis is in my genes and physique. My timing was unlucky vis-a-vis hormone therapy: the Women’s Health Initiative “hormones cause breast cancer” ideology was in full force when I began menopause. As a result, my bones had taken the estrogen loss osteoclast activation hit.
While my scientific research timing at 52 might not have been optimal (although who knows what new long-term studies will show), I was lucky on another front. I was introduced to Bone Health Technologies in the fall of 2020, just as I was at peak frustration with the lack of alternatives to intervene and slow bone loss during osteopenia. At the time, the company was in the middle of the pivotal trial for Osteoboost. There was strong foundational science on vibration, a promising proof of concept study, and a compelling clinical strategy. However we did not yet have data on the effect of the device on bone density or bone strength. What I did know, or at least as much as my educated-patient plus career-marketer instincts told me, was – that if the data was robust – a safe, easy-to-use, non-pharmaceutical intervention to slow bone density was a tremendous business opportunity. I dove in as CEO and, of course, began using the device myself.
Fast forward a few years, and I have had another dexa scan. My “N of 1” data is encouraging: no new medication (no HRT, bone medication, etc.), and my bone loss in the hips and lumbar spine stopped! See the results summary below. Much more important than one person’s data, however, is that we have the strong statistically significant results of the pivotal trial, an FDA De Novo clearance as the first prescription medical device to treat bone density and the first treatment developed specifically for osteopenia.
What we are building with Osteoboost is personal to me and I feel incredibly lucky to work in a field that can have a positive impact on so many people. I’ve spent my entire career in technology innovation and was shocked four years ago to see how little innovation there was around bone health. No new drugs in human clinical trials, no other medical devices, and even in the digital health field in 2020, a search of osteoporosis in the app store yielded little in the way of results.
It is personal not only for me. We are building a company of people for whom bone health and medical innovation is a personal passion. It is inspiring and energizing to work with them and they look forward to sharing their stories and ideas as well. In honor of World Osteoporosis Day, the entire team is working hard to challenge the notion that osteoporosis is an inevitable part of aging for women. We don’t accept that.
