BINOSTO® (alendronate sodium) Featured on Two National Programs

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- About half of all women over age 50 and 1 in 4 men will break a bone due to osteoporosis.  Yet the disease, which causes bones to become fragile and more likely to fracture, remains poorly understood, according to osteoporosis expert Dr. Sol Epstein.

"This is a disease that is under appreciated, both by physicians and by the public," Epstein noted recently while discussing the disease and its treatment on the "ReachMD" satellite radio program.

"The biggest issue is it is not considered a priority, so it is often unrecognized, undiagnosed," said Epstein, professor of medicine and geriatrics at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  According to Epstein, the disease lingers untreated far too often, despite the fact that new drugs make treatment easier than ever before.

Alendronate sodium has been shown to increase bone density to help prevent fractures at the hip and spine.  Until recently, the treatment has been available only in pill form, though according to a recent Harris Interactive Poll, 40 percent of American adults find it difficult to swallow tablets.

October 2012 brought a new treatment option when BINOSTO™ (alendronate sodium) Effervescent Tablet became available in the United States by prescription.  BINOSTO offers the same 70 mg dose of alendronate sodium as other standard weekly therapies, but in a new formulation − a tablet that is dissolved in water to create an easy-to-swallow, strawberry-flavored liquid medication.

Making the medicine easier to take increases the likelihood that people will stick with the program, a boon for both doctors and patients.  As Epstein puts it, "Drugs don't work unless the patients take them."

To learn more about osteoporosis and its treatment options, listen to the "ReachMD" discussion of "Why we need to improve diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis" on its website. 

Also be sure to tune to Lifetime Television on May 14 and 15 at 7 a.m. for the first two of four episodes of the "Balancing Act" which also will feature discussions of osteoporosis and a treatment option, BINOSTO.

About BINOSTO
BINOSTO is a once weekly, strawberry-flavored effervescent tablet containing alendronate sodium (70mg) that rapidly dissolves in half a glass (4 oz.) of plain room temperature water to make a buffered solution.  BINOSTO is available in packs of four.  The national drug code number is 0178-0101-02.

BINOSTO was developed by EffRx based on an agreement with Merck & Co, Inc. granting EffRx the worldwide rights to all effervescent and related patents of FOSAMAX® (alendronate).  Patents have been granted to EffRx providing exclusivity for BINOSTO through February 2023.  Additional patents are pending.

See full prescribing information at Binosto.com for a complete listing of indications and risks.

About Mission Pharmacal Company
Mission Pharmacal Company is a privately held pharmaceutical company based in San Antonio, Texas.  For more than 65 years, the company has been committed to meeting the unique healthcare needs of women throughout all stages of life, pediatric patients, and those persons dealing with urologic and dermatologic conditions.  The company has a proven track record of identifying unmet healthcare needs and developing both innovative prescription and over-the-counter products to meet these needs.  Using only the purest ingredients and FDA-approved methods of manufacturing, Mission Pharmacal provides physicians and consumers with the highest quality pharmaceutical and dietary supplement products on the market today.  Mission Pharmacal is a proud national supporter of the March of Dimes Foundation, whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.  For more information about the company, visit www.missionpharmacal.com.

SOURCE Mission Pharmacal Company