Does orthopedics have much pharmaceutical research going on?

[Alakazam123]

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As someone who is doing a masters in pharmaceutical sciences in my gap years, I was shocked that there was not much drug design going on...as opposed to neurology, cardiology, urology, etc.

 

[UnoMas]

Have you heard of Ancef?

 

[Alakazam123]

well that seems to be for mitigating infections. But there are no drugs for actual orthopedic conditions as it stands, from what I've seen.

 

[libertyyne]

well that seems to be for mitigating infections. But there are no drugs for actual orthopedic conditions as it stands, from what I've seen.

define orthopedic condition.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Bisphosphonates.

 

[libertyyne]

somatostatin
cinacalcet
natpara
methotrexate

Milk

 

[Alakazam123]

define orthopedic condition.

To draw a parallel...stroke is a neurological condition, ALS is a neurological disease, and MS is a neurological disease. However, none of the orthopedic bone diseases seem to have pharmaceuticals to address them (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, etc.)

 

[HBSlim]

To draw a parallel...stroke is a neurological condition, ALS is a neurological disease, and MS is a neurological disease. However, none of the orthopedic bone diseases seem to have pharmaceuticals to address them (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, etc.)

Osteoporosis: Bisphosphonates, Forteo

Osteoarthritis: Treat symptoms with NSAIDs, steroids, multiple injections.

Rheumatoid: DMARDs, steroids

Muscle contractures in CP: Botox

Gout: allopurinol, NSAIDs

I guess I don't fully understand your question. There are in fact medications used in orthopedic conditions. It's a surgical specialty that deals with structural abnormalities in the musculoskeletal system. If you manage to develop a drug that can treat these structural problems without the need for surgery, you can stand to make a significant amount of money.

 

[thegreengreatdragon]

I'm also not 100% sure what you're getting at. Like many of my fellow posters above say, there are definitely medications in place for various non-structural MSK diseases, although maybe to varying degrees of efficacy. I think there is also ongoing research, since we are getting some new drugs--Forteo and Olumiant are the first that come to mind.

I know that there's conflicting evidence when it comes to efficacy of corticosteroid shots for arthritic patients. Also, there's those hyaluronic acid injections--I want to say the verdict on those is that they really don't work, but I'm also pretty sure some doctors still administer them. There are also some more niche joint injections for people with arthritis that I can't remember off the top of my head, but I know the jury's still out on those because they're pretty new.

So, I mean, OP, if you're looking for research topics, those might be good ones? I think there's already research going on about the various injections and how effective they really are, but still, you might be able to find a new research question or something.

 

[Goro]

As someone who is doing a masters in pharmaceutical sciences in my gap years, I was shocked that there was not much drug design going on...as opposed to neurology, cardiology, urology, etc.

Denosumab

 

[LoGo]

This post hurts my brain. The “ortho conditions” you have highlighted like osteoporosis and OA are not primary ortho conditions, and only some of those go on to be secondary ortho problems - it’s like saying endocarditis is a primary CV surgery issue. It only is a secondary CV surgery issue at the end stages when medicine can no longer help and a valve needs replacing, which isn’t automatically necessary for everyone. By definition, a primary or secondary orthopaedic surgical problem is not a medical problem - it’s something that has broken or is out of place that needs to be fixed, and no medicine is going to shift a femur back in line.

Therefore, I direct you to the industry of rheumatology, where the drug development industry is doing just fine. Still no drug for OA though. It’ll probably end up being stem cell related.