OSTEOPOROSISTX.COM OFFERS CLINICIANS AN ONLINE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE WITH TH

OSTEOPOROSISTX.COM OFFERS CLINICIANS AN ONLINE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE WITH THE LATEST IN OSTEOPOROSIS PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT


Web Site is Part of Larger Continuing Education Initiative to Improve Clinical Practice of Osteoporosis

Washington, D.C. (March 4, 2009) — Curatio CME Institute (Curatio) and the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) announce today the launch of www.osteoporosistx.com, an online resource for clinicians who manage patients with or at risk for osteoporosis. The Web site offers users easily accessible, current clinical information and perspectives as well as a network for healthcare professionals to share clinical insights on osteoporosis.

OsteoporosisTX.com provides users with a wide selection of Continuing Education (CME/CE) activities including newsletters, Webcasts and on-the-go education; links to the latest news about osteoporosis; an exclusive Ask the Expert feature where users can direct questions to an expert panel; and a comprehensive listing of clinical trials. Content on the Web site will cover fracture risk assessment; recommendations for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; optimizing treatment; use of combination therapy; monitoring of treatment efficacy; agents in development for osteoporosis; and secondary osteoporosis.

The Web site was developed as part of Better Outcomes through Network Education (BONE), a continuing education initiative between Curatio and NOF to optimize clinical outcomes in osteoporosis.

“Osteoporosis is a disease with substantial clinical, physical, economic and social burden,” said Felicia Cosman, M.D., medical director of the Clinical Research Center at Helen Hayes Hospital and professor of clinical medicine at Columbia Hospital. “The Web site, www.osteoporosistx.com and the entire BONE initiative will provide healthcare providers with relevant educational activities that will enhance their approach and dialogue with patients at risk or living with osteoporosis.”

The BONE initiative will produce additional educational components for clinicians, including an e-learning activity available through viewing slides with corresponding audio recording, as well as a series of three print newsletters that will serve as a continuum of communication, raising awareness and disseminating new information on osteoporosis. Each of these activities will be featured on www.osteporosistx.com and available for CME/CE credit.

NOF’s recently released Clinician’s Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis serves a basis for the content available on www.osteoporosistx.com and additional educational components from the BONE initiative. Curatio and NOF created an Osteoporosis Steering Committee to further assist in identifying clinically relevant content for the initiative. The Steering Committee represents the spectrum of clinicians who have an interest in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. It is chaired by Felicia Cosman, M.D., and panelists include David Dempster, Ph.D., Margery Gass, M.D., Jeffrey P. Levine, M.D., M.P.H., and Michael Maricic, M.D.

The BONE initiative is supported by an educational donation provided by AMGEN.

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About Curatio CME Institute
Curatio CME Institute is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The mission of Curatio is to deliver scientifically and medically sound, innovative, and compelling certified continuing medical education activities. By focusing on new and existing therapies and using innovative formats and methods, Curatio develops educational activities that significantly improve medical practice and thus ultimately improve patient care. Curatio develops and certifies activities that address the dynamics of a changing health care environment.

About the National Osteoporosis Foundation
Established in 1984, the National Osteoporosis Foundation is the nation’s leading voluntary health organization solely dedicated to osteoporosis and bone health. Our mission is to prevent osteoporosis, to promote lifelong bone health, to help improve the lives of those affected by osteoporosis and related fractures, and to find a cure. For more information on osteoporosis and bone health, contact NOF online at www.nof.org or by telephone (800) 223-9994.

According to NOF prevalence estimates and reinforced in Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General, osteoporosis is a major public health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans, or 55 percent of the people 50 years of age and older. In the United States today, 10 million individuals are estimated to already have the disease. Almost 34 million more people are estimated to have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Of the 10 million Americans estimated to have osteoporosis, eight million are women and two million are men. One in two women and one in four men age 50 and older will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in her or his lifetime.