Source: Duff Wilson, The New York Times

Two advisory panels to the Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended increasing the cautionary language on the product labels of bone-building drugs taken by more than five million women in the United States. But they stopped short of specifying what the safety warnings should say and did not recommend limiting use of the drugs to a proposed five years. About 11 percent of women 55 and older take the drugs to prevent bone fractures. The medical advisers did not press the issue as strongly as the F.D.A. staff itself did in a 45-page report issued on Wednesday. The staff report said studies “suggest no significant advantage of continuing drug therapy beyond five years.”

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