Reported Reactions

Drugs › Bisphosphonate

Generic name

Pamidronate disodium: adverse event reports filed with FDA

2,136 reports list it as a suspect or interacting product, 2004–2026. Class: Bisphosphonate. Also reported as Pamidronate Disodium Injection, Pamidronate Disodium For Injection.

2,136
reports as suspect product
0% of all reports · about 95 a year
32
reports, 12 months to June 2026
32 in the 12 months before
96.9%
marked serious by the reporter
90.3% across the class
8.5%
record death among outcomes, as reported
181 reports · not verified by FDA

2,136 adverse event reports received by FDA list pamidronate disodium, a generic name as a suspect or interacting product, from January 2004 to June 2026. A further 1,258 reports list it only as a concomitant medication, and those are not counted in the figures on this page.

In the 12 months to June 2026, 32 reports listed it, close to the 32 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Over its reporting history that is about 95 reports a year and 0% of the 20,646,523 reports in the database, and 2.2% of the reports for the bisphosphonate class. How many people take it is not in the data, so a count is not a rate of occurrence.

The reactions recorded most often are osteonecrosis (24.3%), osteonecrosis of jaw (19.9%) and pain (17.5%). A report can list several reactions, so shares add to more than 100%; 565 different terms appear across these reports. Osteonecrosis is recorded in 24.3% of these reports, a larger share than in the median bisphosphonate drug (2.1%).

96.9% of the reports are marked serious by the reporter (90.3% across the class); 8.5% record death among the outcomes and 18.8% record hospitalisation, as reported. 46.7% of the reports came from other health professionals, and the largest patient age group is 45 to 64 (28.2%). FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

0612Jul 2021: 6Aug 2021: 2Sep 2021: 3Oct 2021: 2Nov 2021: 6Dec 2021: 12022Jan 2022: 5Feb 2022: 4Mar 2022: 4Apr 2022: 0May 2022: 3Jun 2022: 5Jul 2022: 7Aug 2022: 5Sep 2022: 4Oct 2022: 1Nov 2022: 3Dec 2022: 112023Jan 2023: 4Feb 2023: 3Mar 2023: 1Apr 2023: 5May 2023: 4Jun 2023: 5Jul 2023: 6Aug 2023: 1Sep 2023: 2Oct 2023: 3Nov 2023: 12Dec 2023: 32024Jan 2024: 5Feb 2024: 9Mar 2024: 6Apr 2024: 6May 2024: 10Jun 2024: 1Jul 2024: 11Aug 2024: 3Sep 2024: 4Oct 2024: 3Nov 2024: 3Dec 2024: 12025Jan 2025: 1Feb 2025: 2Mar 2025: 1Apr 2025: 3May 2025: 0Jun 2025: 0Jul 2025: 3Aug 2025: 2Sep 2025: 3Oct 2025: 5Nov 2025: 0Dec 2025: 02026Jan 2026: 4Feb 2026: 1Mar 2026: 1Apr 2026: 2May 2026: 8Jun 2026: 3

Reports by the month FDA received them. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

By year received

01673342004: 7620042005: 1532006: 1282007: 10020072008: 1232009: 1902010: 33420102011: 1612012: 1232013: 3320132014: 212015: 152016: 2520162017: 582018: 742019: 14620192020: 1112021: 632022: 5220222023: 492024: 622025: 2020252026: 19

2026 covers reports received through June 2026 only.

Reactions recorded in the reports

share of Pamidronate disodium reports recording the termmedian drug in bisphosphonate

  1. Osteonecrosis of jawdeath of jaw bone tissue19.9%425
  2. Painpain, site not specified17.5%374
  3. Impaired healingslow healing4.9%105
  4. Infectionan infection, type not specified4.4%93
  5. Drug ineffectivethe medicine did not work as expected4.1%87
  6. Off label useused for a purpose or in a way not on the label3.5%74
  7. Pyrexiafever3.4%72
  8. Weight decreasedweight loss3.2%68
  9. Nauseafeeling sick2.9%62
  10. Deaththe patient died; cause not stated by this term2.9%61
  11. Bone debridement2.6%55
  12. Fatiguetiredness2.6%55
  13. Bone painbone pain2.5%54
  14. Anxietyanxiety2.5%53
  15. Back painback pain2.4%52
  16. Breast cancerbreast cancer2.4%52
  17. Sequestrectomy2.4%51
  18. Oedema peripheralswelling of the legs, ankles or hands2.3%49
  19. Hypocalcaemialow blood calcium2.1%44
  20. Pain in extremitypain in an arm or leg2%43
  21. Arthralgiajoint pain1.9%41

Top 30 of 565 MedDRA preferred terms recorded across these reports, with a plain-language gloss where one is available. One report can record several terms. The hollow bar is the median share across the 9 drugs in the bisphosphonate class; it describes the reports, not the patients. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Outcomes recorded

Death8.5%181
Life-threatening2.7%57
Hospitalisation (initial or prolonged)18.8%401
Disability14.6%312
Congenital anomaly0.1%2
Other serious79.8%1,704
Not serious3.1%66

Outcome flags as the reporter set them; a report can carry several, and "other serious" is FDA's own category for serious reports outside the named outcomes. Grey bar: all 97,060 reports in the class. FDA has not verified any outcome and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Patients and reporters

Patient age

Under 21%22
2 to 113.6%77
12 to 171.5%32
18 to 444.6%98
45 to 6428.2%602
65 to 7417.4%372
75 and over11.4%244
Age not given32.3%689

Patient sex

Female56.2%1,201
Male33.3%711
Not given10.5%224

Who reported

Physician18.8%401
Pharmacist4.9%104
Other health professional46.7%998
Lawyer10.3%219
Consumer or non-health professional10.3%219
Not given9.1%195

Age and sex as stated in the report; the reporter's qualification is the primary source recorded by FDA. 28% of reports give the United States as the country of the event or reporter.

Reason for use recorded

Indication as recorded (MedDRA)ReportsShare
Multiple myeloma24811.6%
Metastases to bone1507%
Breast cancer1115.2%
Hypercalcaemia1024.8%
Osteoporosis1004.7%
Osteogenesis imperfecta713.3%

The indication field is filled in by the reporter and is often blank; shares are of all 2,136 reports.

Drugs most often listed in the same reports

Drug (any role in the report)ReportsShare of Pamidronate disodium reports
Zoledronic acid31214.6%
Zometa1959.1%
Dexamethasone1798.4%
Thalidomide1044.9%
Prednisone914.3%
Letrozole884.1%
Cyclophosphamide874.1%
Exemestane673.1%
Ergocalciferol663.1%
Afinitor622.9%

Other products listed in reports where Pamidronate disodium is a suspect product, whatever their own role. Co-listing means the two were recorded together; it says nothing about either product's part in the event. Only the 2,500 most-reported names are counted here.

In context

MeasurePamidronate disodiumBisphosphonateAll reports
Reports as suspect product2,13697,06020,646,523
Share of that pool—2.2%0%
Reports, latest 12 months32—1,332,454
Marked serious96.9%90.3%57.4%
Death recorded among outcomes, per 1,000 reports8513891
Hospitalisation recorded, per 1,000 reports188369213
Consumer-filed share10.3%28%45.8%
Top term, share of reportsOsteonecrosis 24.3%median 2.1%0.2%

Shares are of reports, not of patients treated. The number of people taking a product is not in the data, so none of these figures is a rate, and differences between columns reflect who takes a product, who reports and how long it has been sold. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Other drugs in the bisphosphonate class

DrugName typeReportsLatest 12 monthsMarked serious
Fosamaxbrand34,8441,31192.2%
Alendronate sodiumgeneric18,0821,52890.4%
Zoledronic acidgeneric16,6821,86897.1%
Reclastbrand10,38240281%
Actonelbrand6,0393384.3%
Alendronatebrand4,04521379.6%
Risedronate sodiumgeneric3,51255292.5%
Ibandronate sodiumgeneric1,3386071.5%

Ordered by report count for navigation only. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic." A brand and its generic are separate rows because reporters name them separately.

Questions about Pamidronate disodium reports

How many adverse event reports has FDA received for Pamidronate disodium?

2,136 reports list Pamidronate disodium as a suspect or interacting product in the openFDA FAERS release of 28 Sep 2026, covering reports received through June 2026. 32 of them arrived in the latest 12 months. Another 1,258 list it only as a concomitant medication.

What reactions are recorded in Pamidronate disodium reports?

osteonecrosis (24.3%), osteonecrosis of jaw (19.9%), pain (17.5%), bone disorder (7.7%) and tooth extraction (7.6%). These are MedDRA preferred terms coded from what the reporter described; a report can list several, and a term's presence is not a finding that Pamidronate disodium was responsible.

How serious are the reports?

96.9% are marked serious by the reporter. Among the outcomes recorded, 8.5% of reports include death and 18.8% include hospitalisation. FDA has not verified these outcomes and states that the reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence" of the events.

Who files these reports?

other health professional (46.7%), physician (18.8%) and lawyer (10.3%). Most reports reach FDA through the manufacturer, which must forward reports it receives.

Are reports for Pamidronate disodium rising?

32 reports in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 32 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Counts also move with how many people take a product, its time on the market and publicity.

Do these reports show that Pamidronate disodium was responsible for these reactions?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event." The reaction may relate to the condition being treated, to other medicines, or to something else.

Is this a list of the side effects of Pamidronate disodium?

No. It is a count of what was reported to FDA. The adverse reactions observed in clinical studies are printed on the FDA-approved label, which a pharmacist or clinician can go through with you.

How do I report an adverse event?

Consumers and health professionals can report to FDA through MedWatch (Form FDA 3500 online, or 1-800-FDA-1088), or to the manufacturer, which must pass reports on. See the guide on how to report.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. A report counts here when it lists Pamidronate disodium as a suspect or interacting product; reports listing it only as a concomitant medication (1,258) are excluded. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.