PJ Online | News: Unlicensed use of growth hormone should be controlled, says DTB

Home > PJ (current issue) > News / Daily News | Search

The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7191 p419-425
30 March 2002

Related websites
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (more)

Unlicensed use of growth hormone should be controlled, says DTB

One-fifth of children treated with synthetic growth hormone are being given it for an unlicensed indication, according to the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

In England in 2000, over 39,000 prescriptions for somatropin were dispensed, costing £26.8m. The bulletin says that it is effective in children with proven growth hormone deficiency and Prader-Willi syndrome, and is of some use in children with Turner's syndrome or chronic renal insufficiency. However, in the 22 per cent of children being treated with somatropin for an unlicensed condition (such as idiopathic short stature or short stature due to intra-uterine growth retardation or skeletal dysplasia), and in whom growth hormone secretion is within normal levels, less evidence supports its use.

"Growth hormone therapy should only be given for these unlicensed uses as part of controlled trials," the bulletin concludes (2002;40:17).

This month's bulletin also concludes that the benefits of eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with dyspepsia but not ulcers remain unclear. It says that H pylori infection is found in 55 per cent of patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia and might be a cause of symptoms in some of them. Evidence as to whether eradication of infection reduces symptoms is conflicting, although one review suggests that eradication therapy would be effective in one in 15 people treated (2002;40:23).

The bulletin also assesses the benefits of frameless intra-uterine contraceptive devices (GyneFix). It concludes that the device offers few, if any, advantages over a standard copper T device (2002;40:21).