Introduction: Increased bone resorption is associated with several diseases, including osteoporosis, bone metastases and Paget's disease of bone. Zoledronic acid (ZA) is the most potent of the clinically available bisphosphonates. In addition to its antiresorptive activity, there has been increasing evidence to suggest that it also has anticancer properties.
Areas covered: This article is complied through PubMed and Medline databases searches on ZA. In this review, the authors summarize the current knowledge (up to December 2010) on the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of ZA.
Expert opinion: ZA is a well-tolerated and effective drug in the management of metabolic as well as cancer-related bone disease. Clinical benefits in cancer patients include improvement in bone pain, reduction in skeletal events and delay of time to first skeletal event. However, novel indications for this drug are emerging from clinical studies in early breast cancer. Recent findings suggest that the addition of ZA to endocrine therapy can significantly prevent bone loss in premenopausal patients. Increasing evidence also indicates a potential anticancer activity of ZA, although this property needs to be further explored.