Osteoporosis is the most common disorder of bone metabolism, affecting 1 in 3 women over the age of 50 and 1 in 8 men. In the US alone, more than 10 million people over the age of 50 currently have osteoporosis, and over 33 million have low bone mass. As the population ages, this figure is expected to rise significantly.

The proven association between osteoporosis and fractures makes osteoporosis a significant health concern.  More women in the US suffer fracture each year (575,000) than have heart attacks (210,000) or strokes (363,190), or develop breast cancer (211,300).  The cost of osteoporosis-related fractures is estimated to be $20 billion in the US and €25 billion in Europe each year.

However, osteoporosis remains largely under-diagnosed and under-treated.  Thus the market for diagnostic testing is huge and growing, and pressures will only mount to diagnose and treat osteoporosis earlier and in as many people at risk as possible, in order to reduce healthcare costs associated with bone fractures.

Bone resorption markers, such as the cross-linked N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen (NTx)  allow easy and clinically useful measurement of bone turnover which can be used to help assess patient need for osteoporotic therapy with bone resorption inhibitors (along with bone density measurement), and the response to that therapy.