Abstract
Therapeutic use of growth hormone spans back over 65 years. The drug molecule remained unchanged, despite a switch in production technology.
It is being administered in form of subcutaneous daily injections for multiple years in most patients, which may represent a significant burden for the child and his/her family. Three modified molecules of long-acting growth hormone (LAGH) with once weekly administration have been developed and are approaching clinical use.
Their growth effect is equivalent to daily growth hormone injections. Lonapegsomatropin is a pegylated pro-molecule temporarily conjugated with a carrier, allowing regular release of native growth hor-mone.
Somapacitan has one amino acid substitute in growth hormone molecule, serving as an anchor for a fatty acid with bound plasmatic albumin. Its substantially prolonged half-life allows gradual conversion into active molecule.
Somatrogon is growth hormone fused with natural human peptide (CTP technology) which slows down its renal and hepatic clearance and prolongs sevenfold its half-life. We participated at an international multicentre clinical study to test treatment burden of somatrogon administration in comparison to daily growth hormone, using standardised questionnaires.
The cohort of 87 children and their families reported significantly declined treatment burden during somatrogon therapy to one third in comparison to daily injections. LAGH will soon become a novel treatment option for children with some forms of short stature.