Predominance of injected osteoporosis drugs

2026 02 04 Owen Yang

The requesting of DEXA (bone density scan) and prescribing of bone preserving medications are highly curbed under the funding of the Taiwan National Health Insurance. Except for those who already have evidence of high-risk factors or high-risk conditions (such as cancer), DEXA was funded once in women after menopause and not in men. Bisphosphonates or denosumab could only be funded when there was DEXA evidence of osteoporosis. The requesting of DEXA (bone density scan) and prescribing of bone preserving medications, mainly , is highly curbed under the funding of the Taiwan National Health Insurance. Except for those who already have evidence of high-risk factors or high-risk conditions (such as cancer), DEXA was funded once in women after menopause and not in men. Bisphosphonates or denosumab could only be funded when there was DEXA evidence of osteoporosis.

Nevertheless, there seemed a replacement from oral bisphosphonates (#M05BA) to oral bisphosphonates combined with vitamin D and calcium (#M05BB) , and then to injected bone mineralisation medications (#M05BX), including denosumab . As high as 7.3% of women aged 80 and over had a prescription of injected bone mineralisation medications, compared to 1.3% and 2.5% of combined and non-combined oral bisphosphonates, respectively.