A new study looks at a drug for cancer patients and finds a promising alternative to reduce the risk of bone fractures.

According to the Surgeon General, half of all women over the age of 50 will break a bone in their lifetime from osteoporosis.

The silent disease thins bone and put a person at a higher risk of breaking or fracturing a bone.

Currently, drugs such as Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva are the first-line treatments for protecting bones. Taken by pill either once a week or once a month, the medications work well but come with hard-to-follow instructions.

Doctor Brinda Dixit, a rheumatologist in Chesapeake, says compliance is a big problem.

"Patients have difficulty taking the medication because the administration directions of these medications in that they must take it in an upright position, the first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach.”

Researchers report a new option; a once-a-year medication.

More than 7,500 postmenopausal women took a yearly infusion of Zometa, a drug that's often prescribed for cancer patients, to help reduce or delay bone complications.

When taken for osteoporosis, researchers at the University of California San Francisco say spine fractures were reduced by 70% percent and hip fractures by 41%. That was over a 3-year period.

Researchers say infusions of Aometa appear to be just as effective as current treatments for osteoporosis.

"It’s a great, promising potential for osteoporosis."

Potential, Dr. Dixit says, because some heart rhythm problems were seen and because of Zometa's association with osteonecrosis of the jaw where the jaw bone dies within the mouth, and its cost.

So, the study showed that a once-a-year infusion is as effective as other osteoporosis drugs in the same class, but there are potential side effects to consider, too.

Doctors will be reading about it in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.