Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis, the most common and perhaps the most debilitating complication of corticosteroid therapy, is now treatable using antiresorptive bisphosphonate agents, delegates were told at the 1997 Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology [Washington DC, US; November 1997]. The bisphosphonates at the centre of the breakthrough are Merck's alendronic acid [‘Fosamax’] and Procter & Gamble's etidronic acid [‘Didronel’]. Both have demonstrated the potential to treat corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis in large clinical trials.