Efficacy and safety of ibandronate in the treatment of hypercalcemia of malignancy: a randomized multicentric comparison to pamidronate

Using the CSC baseline approach, the most frequently administered doses were 4 mg ibandronate (78.4%) and 60 mg pamidronate (50.0%). Mean lowering of CSC at day 4 was 0.6 mmol/l for ibandronate and 0.41 mmol/l for pamidronate. The 95% confidence interval for the difference ibandronate pamidronate had a lower limit of 0.05 mmol/l, indicating that ibandronate was as effective as pamidronate. The number of patients responding to the two agents was also similar; 76.5% of ibandronate patients and 75.8% of pamidronate patients were rated as responders after the first dose of study medication. The median time to re-increase after response was longer for ibandronate (14 days) than pamidronate (4 days) (P=0.0303). In the subgroup of 17 patients with high baseline CSC (>3.5 mmol/l), ibandronate appeared to be more effective than pamidronate. The safety profile of both agents was similar.