Teriparatide (Forsteo) Treatment in Postmenopausal Women: Mechanism of Action (Forsteo)

May 15, 2026 updated by: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Teriparatide (Forsteo) Treatment in Postmenopausal Women: Mechanism of Action. A Two-year Open-label Single-arm Study of Teriparatide in Secondary Care

Previously the approach to treatment of osteoporosis has been to use medications which prevent excessive resorption of bone. More recently medications that build up new bone, i.e. anabolic treatments, have been, and are being, developed. The investigators would like to develop a strategy for evaluating the effectiveness of anabolic therapies by studying a currently available therapy (teriparatide). This strategy could then be used to assess new anabolic treatments as they are developed for use in humans.

The aims of this study are 1) to fully describe the changes in bone turnover in response to teriparatide by biochemical marker type and by time; 2) to fully describe the changes in bone mineral density (BMD) in response to teriparatide by site, bone compartment and time.

If this study is able to identify an early response to treatment, then this will help speed up drug development in this area, by allowing the identification of promising new anabolic drugs and enabling us to understand their mechanism of action. This will benefit the investigators patients as the investigators will have a better understanding of how these drugs work.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
19

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
    • South Yorkshire
      • Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, S5 7AU
        • Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 84 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria

Subjects must:

  • Have a bone mineral density T-score (at the lumbar spine or total hip) of less than or equal to -2.5
  • Be female
  • Be at least 5 years post menopausal (more than 5 years since their last menstrual period) but <85 years old.
  • Be ambulatory
  • Be able and willing to participate in the study and provide written informed consent
  • Have a serum 25(OH)2 vitamin D3 >50 nmol/L (after vitamin D3 loading)

Exclusion Criteria

Patients will not be admitted to the study if they exhibit any of the following:

  • Evidence of a clinically significant organic disease which could prevent the patient from completing the study
  • A body mass index less than 18 or greater than 35
  • Abuse of alcohol or use illicit drugs (information obtained from medical history) or who consumed more than 4 servings of any alcoholic beverage one day prior to the visit (i.e., subjects who might be binge drinkers)
  • Any history of cancer within the past 5 years excluding skin cancer non melanomas
  • Any history of ongoing conditions or diseases known to cause abnormalities of calcium metabolism or skeletal health including Paget's disease of bone
  • Chronic renal disease (as defined by an estimated glomerular filtration rate of ≤ 30mL/min)
  • Acute or chronic hepatic disease
  • Malabsorption syndromes
  • Hyperthyroidism as manifested by TSH outside the lower limit of the normal range
  • Hyperparathyroidism
  • Hypocalcemia or hypercalcemia
  • Osteomalacia
  • Cushing's syndrome
  • Current use of glucocorticoid therapy
  • A corrected serum calcium less than 2.2 mmol/L and a PTH above 100 ng/L (that persists after testing and treatment for vitamin D deficiency)
  • A history of any known condition that would interfere with the assessment of DXA at either lumbar spine or femoral neck
  • Markedly abnormal clinical laboratory parameters that are assessed as clinically significant by the investigator
  • Any previous use of bisphosphonate
  • Use any of the following medications within 12 months of starting study drug
  • Any fluoride with the exception of use for oral hygiene
  • Strontium Ranelate
  • Other bone agents (e.g. SERM, isoflavones, HRT)
  • Participation in another clinical trial involving active therapy 3 months prior to enrolment
  • Less than 5 years since menopause
  • Bilateral fractures in the measurement regions (hip, tibia and forearm)
  • Recent fracture within the last 12 months
  • Prior radiation therapy which may involve the skeleton
  • Hypersensitivity to teriparatide or any of its excipients
  • Unexplained elevations of alkaline phosphatase
  • Any known contraindication to the use of teriparatide

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Volumetric bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine (mg hydroxyapatite/cm3)
Time Frame: 0 to 104 weeks
Change in volumetric BMD of the lumbar spine (vertebrae L1-3) (mg hydroxyapatite/cm3) measured by quantitative computed tomography (QCT) from 0 to 104 weeks treatment.
0 to 104 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Lumbar spine, total hip and whole body bone mineral density (g/cm2)
Time Frame: 0 to 104 weeks
Changes in lumbar spine, total hip and whole body bone mineral density (g/cm2) measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) from 0 to 104 weeks.
0 to 104 weeks
Biochemical markers of bone turnover
Time Frame: 0 to 104 weeks
Changes in biochemcial markers of bone turnover (OC, PINP, bone ALP, urinary NTX, serum CTX, sclerostin, DKK-1) from 0 to 104 weeks.
0 to 104 weeks
Distal tibia and radius volumetric body bone mineral density (BMD) (mg hydroxyapatite/cm3)
Time Frame: 0 to 104 weeks
Changes in distal tibia and radius volumetric bone mineral density (mg hydroxyapatite/cm3) measured by High Resolution peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (HR-pQCT) from 0 to 104 weeks.
0 to 104 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Director: Richard Eastell, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, University of Sheffield
  • Principal Investigator: Jennifer Walsh, PhD MRCP, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Principal Investigator: Eugene McCloskey, MD, FRCPI, University of Sheffield
  • Principal Investigator: Nicola Peel, DM FRCP, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Principal Investigator: Angela Rogers, BSc (Hons), PhD, MCSP, University of Sheffield
  • Principal Investigator: Margaret Paggiosi, Bsc (Hons), PhD, MICR, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Principal Investigator: Lang Yang, PhD CSci, University of Sheffield
  • Principal Investigator: David Hughes, BMedSci MBChB PhD FRCPath, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Principal Investigator: Mark Wilkinson, PhD, FRCS (Tr&Orth), University of Sheffield

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
February 4, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 9, 2011

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 10, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 19, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 15, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • STH15466
  • 2010-021009-19 (EudraCT Number)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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