A new drug that both builds new bone while slowing down bone loss has been launched with hopes it could help hundreds of thousands of osteoporosis sufferers.

It is estimated that three million people in the UK suffer from osteoporosis, which causes over 300,000 fractures each year. Now the makers of Protelos (strontium ranelate) claim the new drug could help prevent many thousands of bones being fractured and improve people’s quality of life. But the new medication will also renew concerns that many patients will be denied the treatment on the NHS because of the cost.

Earlier this year osteoporosis campaigners complained that another bone-building drug, Forsteo, would only be available for over-65s under draft guidance by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). Under the guidance, which is now subject to an appeal, sufferers would also have had to suffer multiple fractures and try an older class of drugs, called biphosphonates, first before qualifying for the £10-a-day injections.

NICE is currently conducting a technology appraisal of Protelos, which will report its recommendations next year. Servier Laboratories, which makes Protelos, said it was the first and only medicine currently available which combined building new bone and slowing down the rate of bone loss at the same time.

Professor Tim Spector, a consultant rheumatologist from St Thomas’ Hospital in London, said: “To date we have had treatments that can reduce the rate of bone loss and last year a new injection was launched which promoted bone growth, but we have never had a medicine that combines the two processes.

Prof Spector, who took part in trials of the drug, added: “With some other treatments, the patients need to remain upright for half an hour after they have taken their medicine but Protelos is straightforward to take and patients will be able to take it last thing at night and go to bed straight afterwards. It’s a very useful addition to existing treatments to enable us to provide the best possible choice for our patients.”

Research has shown that Protelos reduces the risk of spinal fracture by half in patients after one year of taking the drug. It also cut the risk of hip fracture by more than a third over three years. In those aged over 80, the drug reduced the risk of spine fractures by a third and other fractures by 31%, compared to a dummy pill.

The manufacturers said that treating 100,000 women over the age of 74 with Protelos for three years could prevent 11,000 vertebral fractures and 2,000 hip fractures. It is estimated that one in three women and one in 12 men in the UK will have osteoporosis over the age of 50. The condition is estimated to cost the NHS and Government over £1.7 billion each year - £5 million a day.

Jackie Parrington, of the National Osteoporosis Society, welcomed the launch of Protelos, which is taken once a day as a powder mixed in a glass of water. She said it would extend the number of treatments which were currently available to both doctors and patients.

“Broken bones associated with osteoporosis are often overlooked as part of getting old. I hope today’s launch raises awareness of the severity of the condition and alert us all to taking greater care of our bones,” Ms Parrington added.