An Evaluative History of Bisphosphonate Drugs: Dual Physiologic Effects of Pyrophosphate as Inspiration for a Novel Pharmaceutical Class

The documented history of the development of the bisphosphonate drugs is reviewed in sufficient detail to permit independent evaluation of the consistency of the conclusions reached from the available data. The evidence developed during the early interval of these studies 1960–1975 was sufficient to establish that pyrophosphate shares the subsequently established dual bisphosphonate characteristics of bone resorption inhibition and prevention of tissue mineralization.