SERMs: an update for clinicians

Abstract

With the successful manipulation by molecular pharmacological technology of the estrogenic properties of selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) that are highly organ- and tissue-specific, SERMs have now become available for the management of osteoporosis, as they did for breast cancer earlier. This presentation focuses on raloxifene (RLX), a second-generation SERM and an agent of interest to clinicians engaged in the management of osteoporosis on a day-to-day basis. RLX is a unique agent, in that it exhibits similar but distinct effects on bone metabolism from those of estrogen. RLX also appears to exert milder inhibitory effects on bone resorption than bisphosphonates (BPs), another class of antiresorptive agents, while ample evidence suggests that RLX compares favorably with BPs in preventing a variety of non-traumatic fractures.