A drug taken by more than a million people with osteoporosis could double their risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus, according to a study published today. Those who have taken oral bisphosphonates for five years or more are twice as likely to develop the cancer than those who have not, the analysis of medical records found.
Every year almost 8,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, or gullet cancer, and about 7,500 people die from it.
Survival rates are low compared to other cancers, with only three in 10 surviving more than a year after diagnosis. Among the general population of people aged 60 to 79, the chance of developing oesophageal cancer is about one in 1,000 over five years.
But researchers found that among those who had taken oral bisphosphonates for five years or more the rate doubled to two in 1,000 over the same period. Among men it increased from 1.5 to three per 1,000 and among women from 0.5 to to one per 1,000.
Last night the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government's medicine's regulator, said there was "no need" for patients to stop taking the medication on the basis of the study alone.
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