Medical doctors have been using bisphosphonates for about 25 years. The equine versions (Tildren and Osphos) were introduced in the USA about 4 years ago; of course, they were used overseas well before, and it is certainly possible that some trainers/vets had earlier access. Tildren is administered with a 90 minute IV infusion; Osphos is given with one intramuscular shot (should be split into 3 locations). One dose is all that is required for several mos. effectiveness (who knows if some use the drug more frequently?). The drugs clear quickly from blood and urine, thus a sales baby treated 3-4 weeks prior to auction will be "clean" (same for an in training horse treated days before a race). The drugs rapidly adhere to bone, and may stay there for years (one report found them 10 years later in test rat bones). There are 2 separate pharmacologic effects: bone metabolism (long term), and pain relief (short term). The drugs have been described as expensive, but I have found the USA retail price to be around $250. Here are the package inserts:
http://www.osphos.com/includes/pdf/D...age-Insert.pdf
https://www.tildren.us/product
The picture seems clear; just one dose results in drug presence for many months/years.
Ky and Calif have done necropsies on the dead horses. After reviewing this material, I am further perplexed why there is such a long delay in providing results of bone chip assays for bisphosphonates. Every piece of drug information discusses finding the drug in bone. Here is an article from Canada in 2011 measuring the drug in bone taken from live horses:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062923/
Come on guys, finding the drug in bone chips is not difficult, yet there are no announced results! The sense of panic among some leading industry figures in recent days heightens my suspicions.
