Biosimilar Growth Hormone

As the first wave of biopharmaceuticals is expiring, biosimilars or follow-on -protein products (FOPP’s) have emerged. Biosimilar drugs are cheaper than the originator/comparator drug. The regulatory foundation for these products is more advanced and better codified in Europe than in the US. Biosimilar soamtropin has been approved in both the US and Europe. The scientific viability of biosimilar drugs and especially growth hormone has been proven by several rigorously conducted clinical trials. Efficacy and safety data (growth rates, IGF-1 generation) for up to 7 y for pediatric indications measure up favorably to previously approved growth hormones which served as reference comparators. The Obama Administration appears to be committed to establish innovative pathways for the approval of biologics and biosimilars in the US. The cost savings in health care expenditures will be substantial as the global sales of biologics have reached $ 93 billion in 2009.     

Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone in the Assessment and Long-term Treatment of Growth Hormone Deficiency

The secretion of hGH after the administration of the analogue of growth hormone releasing hormone, GHRH (1–29)NH₂, to 8 normal adults and 41 short children has been studied. The children were classified on the basis of their hGH response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia; 28 had severe hGH deficiency (peak serum hGH less than 7 mIU/litre) and 13 had simple short stature (peak serum hGH greater than 15 mIU/litre). The hGH response to GHRH was similar in normal adults and short stature children, but significantly lower in the hGH deficient children. In 23 (82%) of the hGH deficient children the peak serum hGH in response to GHRH was greater than 7 mIU/litre (the maximum value seen during hypoglycaemia), and in 14 (50%) the peak serum hGH in response to GHRH was greater than 15 mIU/litre. This suggests that in the majority of hGH deficient children the defect in hGH secretion results from hypothalamic GHRH deficiency. The hGH responses of the short stature children to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia were mainly in the low range of normal, and the majority showed normal hGH responses to GHRH. Eighteen prepubertal children with definite hGH deficiency have been treated for 3–18 months with twice daily, subcutaneous injections of GHRH. This has promoted linear growth in 12 children, of whom 8 showed an increment in height velocity of 2–11 cm/year. GHRH provides a valuable method for the assessment of hGH secretion, but by itself it cannot be used to establish deficient hGH secretion; this requires a stimulation test that promotes hypothalamic GHRH secretion, such as insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. GHRH is a practical alternative therapy to hGH for some hGH-deficient children.     

Growth Hormone Secretion and Growth Hormone Treatment in Children with Intrauterine Growth Retardation

Albertsson-Wikland, K. (Departments of Paediatrics II and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden). Growth hormone secretion and growth hormone treatment in children with intrauterine growth retardation. Acta Paediatr Scand [Suppl] 349: 35, 1989.
Few children with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) fail to show catch-up growth during the first year of life. There may he many reasons for this, ranging from disturbances of hormone production to hormonal unresponsiveness of target cells. This report presents preliminary data on growth hormone (GH) secretion and responses to GH treatment in 16 children with IUGR and poor catch-up growth, six of whom had Silver-Russell stigmata. GH secretion was assessed by measurement of the GH response to an arginine-insulin test and determination of spontaneous GH secretion over 24 hours. GH production was heterogeneous hut, more often than expected, children showed both a low response to GH provocation and low spontaneous secretion of GH. Five out of six of the children with Silver-Russell syndrome and seven out of 10 of the children with non-Silver-Russell IUGR gained more than 2 cm in height during 1 year of treatment with GH at a dose of 0.1 IU/kg/day. These results clearly demonstrate that some children with IUGR and poor catch-up growth secrete insufficient amounts of GH, and that many of these very short children show an improvement in growth rate during treatment with physiological doses of GH.     

生长激素运动筛查试验与生长激素激发试验对生长激素缺乏症诊断价值的比较

目的 评价生长激素(GH)运动筛查试验和GH激发试验对儿童生长激素缺乏症的诊断价值.方法 选取200例身材矮小患儿,均符合身材矮小诊断标准,无骨代谢、糖尿病等其他内分泌代谢疾病.对患儿均进行GH运动筛查试验及GH激发试验.GH激发试验包括精氨酸激发试验、左旋多巴激发试验及胰岛素激发试验,本研究中所有患儿在3种GH激发试验中任选2种.2种试验均采用放射免疫法进行检测.结果 身材矮小患儿行GH运动试验和GH激发试验的GH峰值强度分别为(12.78±6.98) μg/L和(14.07±5.89) μg/L,二者GH峰值比较无显著性差异(t=1.87 P>0.05).200例患儿中GH激发试验和运动试验均阳性者29例;运动试验阳性而GH激发试验阴性者5例,运动试验存在2.5%假阳性率.2种试验方法阳性率间比较无统计学差异(χ2=0.47 P>0.05).结论 GH运动筛查试验和GH激发试验得出的结果具有很高的一致性.由于运动试验具有操作简单、安全等优点,应将GH运动筛查试验作为身材矮小患儿的首选筛查试验.     

Daily Subcutaneous Administration of Human Growth Hormone in Growth Hormone Deficient Children

Sixteen children (10 boys, 6 girls) on treatment for some years with i.m. injections twice or thrice weekly of human growth hormone (hGH; Crescormon® KabiVitrum), participated in a prospective study. The weekly amount of hGH (8, 12, or 16 IU) was kept the same in each child, but divided into daily (7) s.c. injections at bedtime. The growth rate increased in all children during the first year on s.c. daily hGH (5.3 to 7.4 cm/year; 1.95 to 4.27 SDS). This increased growth rate did not persist during the second year on daily s.c. hGH, but an increased predicted final height was found. The plasma profile of hGH was followed: i.m. injected hGH gave mostly a high (200 mU/1) plasma level of some hours (wide intra- and inter-patient variation), and s.c. injected hGH a lower max level of longer duration (wide inter patient variation). The daily s.c. regimen of hGH was extremely well accepted by the children and their parents and no GH-antibodies or other adverse effects were found. We recommend daily s.c. injection of hGH as an alternative in the treatment of GH-deficient children.     

Growth Hormone and Leukemia

With improved survival of children with cancer, attention has focused on late effects of therapy. Among the most clinically bothersome of these is short stature, seen in children in whom cranial radiation has induced growth hormone (GH) deficiency. Some of these children (notably those with a history of acute lymphocytic leukemia or brain tumor) have been treated with and benefited from supplemental GH.     

Growth Response to Human Growth Hormone Treatment in Children with Partial and Total Growth Hormone Deficiency

ABSTRACT. The growth response during the first and second years of human growth hormone (hGH) treatment was studied in 14 prepubertal children with so-called "partial" GH deficiency (peak GH between 8 and 15 mU/1) and compared to 28 prepubertal children with "total" GH deficiency (peak GH less than 8 mU/1). There was no difference in growth acceleration between children with partial and total GH deficiency, when initial covariables were taken into account. In a stepwise multiple regression analysis initial stature, pre-treatment growth velocity and skinfold thickness were shown to be most related to growth response, but after exclusion of 3 children with a genetic form of total GH deficiency and partial TSH deficiency this relationship was lost. GH levels during provocation tests and auxological criteria have a poor predictive value for growth response to hGH therapy.     

Growth and Growth Hormone Therapy in Hypochondroplasia

ABSTRACT. The growth of 84 patients with hypochondroplasia (56 male, 28 female) was studied. A wide spectrum of severity was found from quite severe short limbed dwarfism to short apparently normal prepubertal children who manifested disproportion only at puberty when growth failed. The onset of puberty was at the normal time but the pubertal growth spurt appeared not to materialize and it is this lack which resulted in severely compromised adult heights of 145-165 cm in boys and 133–151 cm in girls. Twenty (12 M, 8 F) hypochondroplastic children aged between 4.3 and 12.8 years were recruited to a study of the effects of biosynthetic growth hormone. All had normal growth hormone responses (> 15 mU/I) to a pharmacological test of growth hormone secretion. Biosynthetic growth hormone in doses between 12-32 u/m²/week produced a significant acceleration in height velocity standard deviation score (SDS) for chronological age (CA) from a pretreatment mean of - 1.66 (SD 1.36) to + 1.62 (SD 1.52) ( p < 0.001). Significant increases were also observed in the height SDS for bone age (BA), sitting height (SH) SDS and subischial leg length (SILL) SDS. A longer period will be required to assess the effect of treatment on adult height prognosis.     

Effects of Short-Term Growth Hormone Therapy in Short Children without Growth Hormone Deficiency

ABSTRACT. Evaluation of 24-hour endogenous growth hormone (GH) secretion was carried out in 62 children, aged 7-16 years, who did not have classic GH deficiency (GHD). The mean 24-hour GH concentration, determined at 20-minute intervals over 24 hours, was variable, ranging from 1.28 to 11.39 μg/l with a mean of 4.95 ± 2.55 μl (± SD). There was a positive correlation between mean 24-hour GH concentration and plasma insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) values ( r = 0.54; p < 0.01). Recombinant human GH, 0.1 IU/kg/day was administered to 30 of the 62 children for 6 months followed by 6 months'observation without treatment. Thereafter, GH was administered at the same dose for a further 6 months to 16 children. The mean height velocities before, during, and after the first treatment period were 4.3 ± 0.9, 7.3 ± 1.9 and 4.9 ± 2.0 cm/year (mean ± SD), respectively. The height velocity during treatment was greater than pre- and post-treatment values ( p < 0.001). The height velocity Increased again during the second treatment period to a mean of 8.5 ± 2.0 cm/year ( p < 0.001). Nine other children were treated continuously in a similar manner for 1 year and their height velocity increased significantly from 4.1 ± 1.4 to 6.0 ± 1.9 cm/year ( p < 0.001). According to our criteria, 29 of the 39 children (74.4%) who were treated for 6-12 months showed a GH-dependent height increase during therapy. There were no differences between the children who responded to GH treatment and those who did not in terms of Chronological age, bone age, plasma IGF-I level, maximal GH level to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia, or mean 24-hour plasma GH concentration. These data indicate that some short children without GHD respond to GH treatment with an increased height velocity. Further investigations are required to determine the effect of GH on final height.     

The Dosage Dependency of Growth and Maturity in Growth Hormone Deficiency Treated with Human Growth Hormone

ABSTRACT. A group of 11 pre-pubertal growth hormone deficient patients were treated with human growth hormone over a period of 4 years. In 6 of the patients the dosage was 4 IU 3 times a week and in 5, 8 IU 3 times a week. Changes in height demonstrated that the "catch up" was significantly greater and of longer duration in the second group. In spite of a more rapid increase of bone age in the second group, the prognosis of final height had improved significantly at the end of the study period. A comparative study of the plasma concentrations of T4, T SH, gonadotrophins and steroids, to see if the greater velocity of bone maturity in the second group could be due to contamination of the preparation by other could be due to contamination of the preparation by other hypophysary hormones, did not demonstrate significant differences between the groups.