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CNN Live At Daybreak

House Call: News on Osteoporosis Front

Aired October 28, 2002 - 08:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get reaction to that news to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is scheduled this time for a "House Call" anyway. So what does that mean, that heroin or morphine potentially was used by the Russians here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, Paula, they're a lot of different types of gasses that potentially could have the derivatives of morphine, heroin, things like that. To say that the gas might actually contain morphine or heroin, from a medical standpoint, might actually be a little bit of a stretch. A lot of these drugs, a lot of these types of medications actually had the same compound as its base, sort of the building block in all those different sorts of compounds, so it wouldn't be uncommon actually for a lot of the medications.

We hear that this particular gas, maybe may be used in operating rooms to have a morphine base to it, heroin type base to it as well. What is interesting what Barbara was saying was a lot of the antidote used for what they thought the gas was going to be did not work as well. When they added this Narcan she was referring to, it seemed to have an increased benefit. It's hard to piece together. It would be a little bit of a stretch to say that this was morphine that was given or this is heroin that was given. But the fact it could have had some of those basic chemical compounds in there as well may be what we're figuring out now.

ZAHN: That's not what we were expecting you to talk about today. You have some news on the osteoporosis front. What is new there?

GUPTA: Paula, you and I have been talking a lot about all of these different alternatives that people are starting to talk about, ever since hormone replacement therapy we are finding out not to be the cure all, the panacea that we've heard so much about. Researchers are trying to focus on all of those things that hormone replacement therapy was supposed to fix, one of those things being osteoporosis, and they're talking about a new compound now called Estrin.

Paula, I want to say, right off the top, this is only being used in mice yet. And you know, we typically don't talk about a lot of these mice stories here on this program, but this one is showing some promise.

Let me look at some of the things about bone loss with respect to estrogen. Women that don't have any estrogen, such as women who go through menopause, we're finding the bone density as actually decreasing by 6 percent. We're seeing this is mice, but that reflects in human beings as well. The reason they used hormone replacement therapy with estrogen was because they saw an increase of 1 percent. And now you can see the promising results, again, just in mice yet, but promising increase of 8 percent in bone density with mice in this new compound. And that is what some of the attention is focused on.

Let me remind people as well, sort of what some of the concerns were, bone strength as well. You can see there the numbers, a decrease of 24 percent with -- without estrogen and with Estren up 12 percent. That is a significant gain. That is something still two to three years from human clinical trials, but something that people are starting to focus on.

And, Paula, I guess it's worth pointing out, worth reminding people why there was such concern over hormone replacement therapy when it was first touted, when it was first pitched, when a lot of women started going on it, it was supposed to fix a lot of different things, include coronary artery disease and stroke.

What they found with this trial was invasive breast cancer actually went up by 26 percent. Coronary artery disease by 29 percent. Stroke by 41 percent. No surprise then that doctors are not recommending this particular medication, any more of this hormone replacement therapy, anymore. Instead, they're starting to target specific problems, such as osteoporosis, using this compound Estren.

ZAHN: I'll tell you one thing, any women worrying or dealing with these symptoms right now is scratching her head because the picture here is just as confused when these studies came out a couple of months ago, and you talk to any doctor, and they can't give women black and white advice here.

GUPTA: That's right. And you know, hormone replacement therapy was supposed to be this thing that fixed so many different things, decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, decrease your risk of Alzheimer's, improve your sleeping habits, took away a lot of the menopausal symptoms, as well as trying to fix your bones. And what doctors are finding out and what we're hearing from talking to doctors is that did not pan out. We can still address these things sort of piecemeal. While it may not be one medication that all women can take for the rest of their lives after menopause, there may be other options that will be coming through the pipeworks over the next couple, three years.

ZAHN: Well, boy, when you figures this out, it would be a great service to the women of this country if you could let them know what the heck they're supposed to do, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes, we'll keep on this one, no doubt, Paula. A lot of questions about that.

ZAHN: It's very important.

GUPTA: Yes, absolutely.

ZAHN: Thank you, appreciate you covering so much territory for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 28, 2002 - 08:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get reaction to that news to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is scheduled this time for a "House Call" anyway. So what does that mean, that heroin or morphine potentially was used by the Russians here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, Paula, they're a lot of different types of gasses that potentially could have the derivatives of morphine, heroin, things like that. To say that the gas might actually contain morphine or heroin, from a medical standpoint, might actually be a little bit of a stretch. A lot of these drugs, a lot of these types of medications actually had the same compound as its base, sort of the building block in all those different sorts of compounds, so it wouldn't be uncommon actually for a lot of the medications.

We hear that this particular gas, maybe may be used in operating rooms to have a morphine base to it, heroin type base to it as well. What is interesting what Barbara was saying was a lot of the antidote used for what they thought the gas was going to be did not work as well. When they added this Narcan she was referring to, it seemed to have an increased benefit. It's hard to piece together. It would be a little bit of a stretch to say that this was morphine that was given or this is heroin that was given. But the fact it could have had some of those basic chemical compounds in there as well may be what we're figuring out now.

ZAHN: That's not what we were expecting you to talk about today. You have some news on the osteoporosis front. What is new there?

GUPTA: Paula, you and I have been talking a lot about all of these different alternatives that people are starting to talk about, ever since hormone replacement therapy we are finding out not to be the cure all, the panacea that we've heard so much about. Researchers are trying to focus on all of those things that hormone replacement therapy was supposed to fix, one of those things being osteoporosis, and they're talking about a new compound now called Estrin.

Paula, I want to say, right off the top, this is only being used in mice yet. And you know, we typically don't talk about a lot of these mice stories here on this program, but this one is showing some promise.

Let me look at some of the things about bone loss with respect to estrogen. Women that don't have any estrogen, such as women who go through menopause, we're finding the bone density as actually decreasing by 6 percent. We're seeing this is mice, but that reflects in human beings as well. The reason they used hormone replacement therapy with estrogen was because they saw an increase of 1 percent. And now you can see the promising results, again, just in mice yet, but promising increase of 8 percent in bone density with mice in this new compound. And that is what some of the attention is focused on.

Let me remind people as well, sort of what some of the concerns were, bone strength as well. You can see there the numbers, a decrease of 24 percent with -- without estrogen and with Estren up 12 percent. That is a significant gain. That is something still two to three years from human clinical trials, but something that people are starting to focus on.

And, Paula, I guess it's worth pointing out, worth reminding people why there was such concern over hormone replacement therapy when it was first touted, when it was first pitched, when a lot of women started going on it, it was supposed to fix a lot of different things, include coronary artery disease and stroke.

What they found with this trial was invasive breast cancer actually went up by 26 percent. Coronary artery disease by 29 percent. Stroke by 41 percent. No surprise then that doctors are not recommending this particular medication, any more of this hormone replacement therapy, anymore. Instead, they're starting to target specific problems, such as osteoporosis, using this compound Estren.

ZAHN: I'll tell you one thing, any women worrying or dealing with these symptoms right now is scratching her head because the picture here is just as confused when these studies came out a couple of months ago, and you talk to any doctor, and they can't give women black and white advice here.

GUPTA: That's right. And you know, hormone replacement therapy was supposed to be this thing that fixed so many different things, decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, decrease your risk of Alzheimer's, improve your sleeping habits, took away a lot of the menopausal symptoms, as well as trying to fix your bones. And what doctors are finding out and what we're hearing from talking to doctors is that did not pan out. We can still address these things sort of piecemeal. While it may not be one medication that all women can take for the rest of their lives after menopause, there may be other options that will be coming through the pipeworks over the next couple, three years.

ZAHN: Well, boy, when you figures this out, it would be a great service to the women of this country if you could let them know what the heck they're supposed to do, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes, we'll keep on this one, no doubt, Paula. A lot of questions about that.

ZAHN: It's very important.

GUPTA: Yes, absolutely.

ZAHN: Thank you, appreciate you covering so much territory for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com