Patent ID: 7625867

Claim:
A pharmaceutical preparation for promoting bone growth and/or inhibiting bone loss, comprising: a) an isolated polypeptide comprising a BMP-3 propeptide that binds to a mature human BMP-3 polypeptide and; b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, wherein the BMP-3 propeptide is selected from the group consisting of: i) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and containing no more than 20 contiguous amino acids of the mature portion of a BMP-3 polypeptide; ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and containing no more than 20 contiguous amino acids of a mature portion of a BMP-3 polypeptide; and wherein the pharmaceutical preparation does not contain mature BMP-3 protein, is pyrogen free, and is suitable for promoting bone growth and/or inhibiting bone loss in a human subject.