Amgen Sets Official Guinness World Record™ for Most Osteoporosis Screenings for an Osteoporosis Campaign in 24 Hours

Healthcare Campaign  Executed Across 10 Countries to Raise Awareness of the Importance of Predicting  and Preventing Osteoporosis and Bone Fracture, Particularly in Post-Menopausal  Women

Thousand Oaks, Calif. (May 6, 2019) – Amgen, together with local healthcare partners in 10 countries around the  world, set on May 5, 2019, a Guinness World Record title for the most  osteoporosis screenings for an osteoporosis campaign in 24 hours. To break the existing world  record, Amgen set out to screen at least a total of 3,000  people in 10 countries around the world -- to  help them understand their risk of having osteoporosis, a medical condition  that weakens bones and makes them more likely to fracture. The campaign took  place in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Saudi  Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

Amgen engaged Guinness World Records, the global authority  on record-breaking, to attempt the official record. Official adjudicators from  Guinness World Records were on site at the Amgen-sponsored screening events to  verify the number of screenings conducted. While Guinness World Records is in  the process of verifying the total count, Amgen received this message from  Guinness World Records on May 5, at 4:05 p.m. Pacific: “It is official! You  have over 3,000 participants across all of the adjudicated locations and have  officially achieved a new Guinness World Records title. Congratulations!”

“Amgen is a science-based  company, so it was important to us to involve the Guinness World Records  organization to endorse the count of osteoporosis screenings that were conducted  during our ‘Break Records, Not Bones’ health education campaign,” said  Sebastian Sorsaburu, vice president, Medical, for Amgen’s Intercontinental  Region. “While it is exciting to have set an official Guinness World Record  title, it is even more rewarding to know that we raised awareness of the  serious risk of bone fracture associated with osteoporosis, particularly among  post-menopausal women.”

Osteoporosis  – the Silent Disease
Throughout a woman’s life, estrogen plays an  important role in replacing older porous bone with newer dense bone. However,  during menopause, her body starts to produce less estrogen.¹ Over time this can lead to osteoporosis–a medical condition that weakens your bones and makes them  more likely to break.² 

Osteoporosis is often called a “silent” disease,  because those afflicted can’t see or feel their bone loss. As a result, many  people don’t know they have it until they break a bone.³ One out of three women over 50 years old will break a bone  due to osteoporosis in her lifetime. ²

“Even when you’re feeling great on the outside,  your bones could be telling a different story on the inside,” Sorsaburu said.  “If ignored, osteoporosis can jeopardize your ability to do things you love and  get around on your own, particularly when bone breaks occur in critical parts  of the body, including the hip, pelvis and spine.”

Once a woman breaks a bone due to osteoporosis,  she is up to 10-times more likely to break another bone within her lifetime^4-8

“Even what seems like a minor fracture, such as  one in the wrist, can be a sign of more debilitating fractures to come– like  those in the hip or spine,” Sorsaburu added. “It’s not just a fracture, it’s a  warning sign. No fracture should be ignored; instead, talk to your doctor about  your osteoporosis risk, and how you can take charge of your bone health.”

“At Amgen, we increasingly believe in the  predict/prevent paradigm, that is, moving from a system that fixes that which  is broken to one where we try to predict who is at risk for disease and then  prevent a life-altering event – such as a serious bone-break – in the first  place,” Sorsaburu added. “We think it’s the right thing for society, and the  right thing for the economic challenges we all face related to our growing  healthcare costs.”