Studies to Assess Incidence of Renal Injury in Cancer Patients Using Bisphosphonates

Analysis Group, in research partnership with Roche, assessed the effect of bisphosphonate drugs - such as Zometa and Bondronat (used only in the EU) - on patients experiencing bone metastasis after cancer. Our team, led by Managing Principal Mei Sheng Duh, examined medical records of a sample of prostate cancer patients treated at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School with Zometa, looking for risk factors associated with renal impairment. The results were published in Cancer. In a similar study in Germany, we reviewed medical records of patients with multiple myeloma, breast, lung, and prostate cancers in large Hem/Onc clinics, and compared the risk and incidence rates of renal impairment of both drugs using multivariate analysis to control for other potential confounding factors. We also examined switching behaviors between the two drugs.