The recent revelations by the Professor David Reid, an expert on brittle bones, has questioned the reliability of the evaluation system used by England and Wales's rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Recent guidelines by NICE prevent GPs from switching to alternative medicines in cases of side-effects due to prescribed pills. Strict rules also lead to deteriorating effect on health and quality of life as patients can’t be given better drugs which are not prescribed.

Nearly a quarter of osteoporosis patients taking the first choice drug, the £50-a-year alendronic acid, suffer from side effects like indigestion and crippling stomach pains. But as per the guidelines their bones have to degenerate by 20 percent before they can be given risedronate, which costs £250 a year. Only when their bones deteriorate by 60%, they can be given the £1-a-day Protelos.

Professor David Reid, who also chairs the National Osteoporosis Society's board of trustees, criticized the stringent rules of NICE against better options of treatment. He added that these rules are unnecessarily restrictive.  

Nearly 500,000 women in the UK are getting treatment for osteoporosis, leading to thinning bones which become easily broken, leading to frequent fractures. It commonly strikes women after the menopause.