Call for greater use of comparative effectiveness studies to help advance disease management

With respect to nonvertebral fracture, patients on risedronate had 19% (p=0.05) and 18% (p=0.03) lower incidence of nonvertebral fracture than patients on alendronate at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Prior to risk adjustment for baseline differences in fracture risk, the crude incidence of fracture in each population was as follows: At six months, 1.31% of alendronate patients had experienced nonvertebral fracture, compared to 1.14% of risedronate patients. At 12 months, 2.30% of alendronate patients had sustained nonvertebral fracture, compared to 1.99% of risedronate patients.

Please see the full prescribing information for each treatment to obtain more information on the adverse events associated with each therapy.

All study investigators had full access to the complete dataset, and each of them independently verified the results of the analyses at their respective institutions. The study was sponsored by The Alliance for Better Bone Health.

About osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease that increases bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. Fracture is a devastating consequence of osteoporosis and can occur at any site of the body. A 50-year-old woman has around a 40% lifetime risk of suffering a fracture from osteoporosis4 - equivalent to the women's lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease.5

About The Alliance for Better Bone Health

The Alliance for Better Bone Health was formed by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and Aventis part of the sanofi-aventis Group, in May 1997 to promote bone health and disease awareness through numerous activities to support physicians and patients around the globe.

About Procter & Gamble [NYSE:PG]

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Pringles®, Folgers®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Actonel®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella, Gillette®, and Braun. The P&G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About sanofi-aventis

Sanofi-aventis is one of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, ranking number one in Europe. Backed by a world-class R&D organisation, sanofi-aventis is developing leading positions in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic diseases, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).