In the mid-1980s, calcitonin was used as a potential treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis. However, after the results obtained in a pivotal study assessing the antifracture efficacy of the drug showed an absence of reduction in nonvertebral fractures, calcitonin has almost completely disappeared from the osteoporosis armomentarium. The development of a new ‘high-tech’ oral formulation of salmon calcitonin and the demonstration, in several in vitro and in vivo models of osteoarthritis, that this drug could exert beneficial effects on the chondrocytes and on the development of experimental osteoarthritis has generated some interest in this old molecule. However, at this stage, results from clinical trials remain inconclusive and caution should be exerted before considering oral calcitonin as a breakthrough in the management of osteoarthritis.