Amgen-Sponsored Education Initiative to Focus on Importance of Breast and Bone Health
Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, is teaming up with American Bone Health™ on a unique education campaign to empower women with information about the importance of healthy living for maintaining good life-long breast and bone health. The campaign, sponsored by Amgen, will seek to help women have constructive conversations with their doctor about appropriate screening and diagnosis to understand their evolving risk of breast cancer, bone loss and fracture throughout their life.
“We know that as women age, their risk for both breast cancer and bone fracture increase, and that women who have undergone breast cancer treatment are at an even greater risk for a bone fracture,” said Paula Schneider, CEO of Susan G. Komen. “Empowering women to take proactive steps to improve their bone health is key to our goal of improving the quality of life for our breast cancer community.”
“We are proud to support Susan G. Komen and American Bone Health on this important initiative,” said Darryl Sleep, M.D., senior vice president of Global Medical and chief medical officer at Amgen. “More must be done to raise awareness about the cause of potentially painful and life-altering bone breaks among women. Postmenopausal osteoporosis is underdiagnosed and undertreated, and unfortunately, one broken bone is more likely to lead to another. In addition, women with breast cancer may be at high risk for bone breaks due to adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy or skeletal related events due to bone metastases. This collaboration brings to life our commitment to predict and help prevent bone breaks among women at high risk for fracture through increased screening, risk identification and education.”
The collaboration will educate women about the importance of breast health and bone health, including the importance of asking their providers if bone screening is right for them in addition to getting a mammogram, for ER+ breast cancer patients about the increased risk of fracture, and for those living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), also known as stage IV, about risk and prevention of skeletal related events (SREs). The campaign will target breast cancer survivors, those living with MBC and the general population of women over 45.
“When it comes to bone health, women need to be their own best advocate. This campaign will empower women to take the lead in having a conversation about their bones with their health care providers,” says Cheryl Hostinak, executive director of American Bone Health. “As many as 1-in-2 women over age 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis, and these fractures can be debilitating and even cause loss of independence. Cancer survivors are especially at risk of broken bones due to the effects of the disease as well as side effects of some treatments. Our goal is to empower all women to take steps to manage their bone health and prevent bone loss and fractures.”
As part of the launch of this initiative, Komen and American Bone Health will develop and administer a survey to assess the personal knowledge of women aged 45 and over, as well as those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, about bone health. The campaign will direct participants to the American Bone Health Fracture Risk CalculatorTM to learn about their risk factors. The findings will aid in the deployment of future work to increase knowledge and promote regular screening and healthy living.
