Abstract
Growth hormone was firstly used in therapy in 1957. Up to mid-1980s, it was exclusively extracted from human cadaverous pituitary glands.
Recombinant products have been marketed since 1985. Besides of classic indication of hormone replacement in children with growth hormone deficiency, growth hormone is additionally approved for therapy of growth hormone deficiency in adults, of girls with Turner syndrome, of children with chronic renal failure, Prader-Willi syndrome, growth failure as a consequence of intrauterine growth retardation (SGA/IUGR) and SHOX deficiency.
All these indications have been approved following studies of efficacy and safety. The safety issues were reopened after a release of French SAGhE study in December 2010.
However, published data are regarded as preliminary and require further re-evaluation.