Leveling Up: Pediatric Growth Hormone Deficiency Treatment Advances Show Promise
As the desire for a less frequently administered growth hormone treatment intensifies, clinicians are looking to researchers for the latest data on safety and efficacy. Luckily, as more studies are undertaken patients and clinicians may soon have a wealth of options. Since 1985, children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) have been prescribed somatropin – recombinant...
Sex, Race, and Measuring Tape: Health Disparities and Growth Hormone Deficiency
Racial and gender disparities in healthcare begin early — including among children who could benefit from treatment for short stature. New research seems to show that white children — especially boys — are offered growth hormone stimulation tests at a significantly higher rate than girls or Black and Hispanic children. The racial, ethnic, and gender...
Growth Spurt: How Pegvisomant Could Be a Promising Solution to a Big Problem
An excess of growth hormone in infancy leads to the rare yet confounding phenomenon of X-linked acrogigantism, which is known to be resistant to conventional pituitary tumor treatments in the pediatric population. However, new data suggests that pegvisomant could not only be a treatment option for these patients, but it could also improve quality-of-life measures....
In November, the European Medicine Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for Ascendis Pharma’s lonapegsomatropin (TransCon hGH), a long-acting once-weekly, transiently pegylated somatropin that in the body releases somatropin, indicated for growth failure in children and adolescents aged from 3 years...
Rapid uptake of long-acting growth hormones (GH) is set to shake up the growth hormone deficiency (GHD) space in the three major markets (3MM): the US, Germany, and Japan. These therapies are projected to capture more than 90% of market share in this region by 2030 due to their potential to improve patient convenience and...
New App Helps Parents Identify Treatable Childhood Growth Disorders Earlier
A mobile phone app can place the accurate measurement of children’s height in the hands of parents and caregivers. Preliminary data presented at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Edinburgh suggests that the app could reliably identify treatable growth disorders much earlier, with significant improvements in child health. Childhood growth is a strong indicator...
Baseline IGF-1 and Stimulated GH Can Predict Pediatric GHD Severity, Response to Treatment
Baseline insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and stimulated peak growth hormone response can serve as predictors for how severe growth hormone deficiency is in pediatric patients as well as how these patients will respond to different treatments, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Researchers led by Michael O. Thorner,...
The investigational long-acting, once-weekly prodrug lonapegsomatropin (TransCon hGH) may be more beneficial to treatment-naïve pediatric patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) than daily somatropin of equivalent weekly dose, according to a paper recently published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Researchers led by Aimee D. Shu, MD, of Ascendis Pharma (who funded the...