Aventis Pharma Limited has launched a comprehensive healthcare management program for women diagnosed with osteoporosis branded as 'Wishbone' in the country. The Programme offering rapid and sustained protection against osteoporotic fractures, will be available to the patients across six metros such as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi from November 25.

According to Dr. Sandeep Bhattacharya, director commercial operations, Aventis Pharma Limited said, the company believes that this Programme has just set a new standard and most importantly stretched the boundaries of patient care, which a pharmaceutical company has never tried so far.

He informed that Wishbone incorporates several unique features like best diagnosis, treatment and overall patient care including on-call counselors, physiotherapists and nutritionists amongst other facilities. Importantly, the Programme would use Aventis' drug, Actonel, a bisphosphonate, proven to achieve both rapid vertebral fracture reduction and sustained vertebral and hip fracture reduction.

According to company sources, the clinical studies in women with post-menopausal osteoporosis have shown that Actonel is the only osteoporosis treatment consistently proven to provide rapid fracture protection in just six months and sustained fracture protection for at least seven years. The drug reduces moderate and severe vertebral fracture risk by 70 per cent within one year, the sources added. Actonel has also been shown to reduce the risk of hip fractures by 60 per cent in elderly women with established post-menopausal osteoporosis.

Dr Bhattacharya said that the Wishbone members will automatically be insured for any fracture, as long as the patient is part of the program, at no extra cost. This is especially advantageous since once a woman is diagnosed with osteoporosis, insurance agencies do not provide cover for the disease even under general health insurance. The osteoporosis patients can enroll with Wishbone for a registration fee of Rs. 1,000 followed by a monthly payment of Rs. 2,000. Included in these costs are services like adjuvant therapy, marker tests, insurance cover for fractures and accidents, educational material, peer group support program, on-call dieticians, on-call physiotherapists and life style medication counseling from occupational therapists. "The company has designed this programme realizing that successful osteoporosis management require a holistic approach that overcomes the social, cultural and therapeutic barriers that have traditionally impeded the successful treatment of this disease," Dr Bhattacharya said.

For the implementation of the Programme, the company will work in conjunction with leading endocrinologists, rheumatologists and orthopedic surgeons to run the program. Consulting physicians, gynecologists and family practitioners whose patients are diagnosed osteoporotic could also be referred to the program. A helpline (1-901-444-444) by Aventis-trained personnel who can conduct a risk assessment test over the phone will also be available for women in each of the six metros at launch, the company informed.