This website is about the osteoporosis medication alendronate.

Alendronate is classified as a bisphosponate drug. The broader category of osteoporosis drugs is antiresorptive drugs that slow the "resoption" of minerals out of the bone and into the bloodstream. (Other antiresorptives include SERMs (selective estrogen-receptor modulators) and calcintonin.

Osteoporosis is a disorder of the skeletal system defined as a level of bone strength below normal that places a person at-risk for bone fractures. Bone strength is characterized by a combination of two bone properties: (1) density, which reflects grams of bone minerals per cubic centimeter, and (2) quality, which reflects how well a bone can withstand fracture. However, a lone measure of bone density is often used for the clinical determination of a person’s overall bone strength. The exact range of bone density considered to be abnormal has varied over the years, but the World Health Organization currently defines it as 2.5 standard deviations or more below the average level in young, healthy adult women.

There are two types of osteoporosis: primary and secondary. Primary osteoporosis is caused by the reduction in estrogen that occurs in a woman’s body after menopause (type I) or by age-related changes in the rate of bone building that occur in both men and women as they grow older (type II). Secondary osteoporosis is caused by certain medical conditions and treatments, as well as by unhealthy behaviors.

Alendronate comes as a tablet and a solution (liquid) to take by mouth

It is also used for treatment of Paget's disease.