Calcitonin-containing medicines used for long durations have been utilised for the management of osteoporosis. Now however, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have recommended the withdrawal of the nasal spray and cautioned use of other formulations due to an increased association with cancer. In fact, it recommends that calcitonin not be used for treating osteoporosis at all. As a consequence, the remaining indications for such medicines are Paget's disease, acute bone loss from immobilisation and hypercalcaemia caused by cancer, but only on a short-term basis. The basis of this decision is a review by the agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) using data from the companies that market these drugs, postmarketing safety data, randomized controlled studies, 2 studies of unlicensed oral calcitonin drugs, and experimental cancer studies, among other sources.
The increase in cancer rates when compared to placebo is in the range of 0.7 to 2.4%. Various types of cancers are involved.
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