Effectiveness and Safety of rhIGF-1 Therapy in Children: The European Increlex® Growth Forum Database Experience.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We report data from the EU Increlex® Growth Forum Database (IGFD) Registry, an ongoing, open-label, observational study monitoring clinical practice use of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 (rhIGF-1) therapy in children. METHODS: Safety and effectiveness data on rhIGF-1 treatment of 195 enrolled children with growth failure were collected from December 2008 to September 2013. RESULTS: Mean ± SD (95% CI) height velocity during first year of rhIGF-1 treatment was 6.9 ± 2.2 cm/year (6.5; 7.2) (n = 144); in prepubertal patients naïve to treatment, this was 7.3 ± 2.0 cm/year (6.8; 7.7) (n = 81). Female sex, younger age at start of rhIGF-1 therapy, and lower baseline height SDS predicted first-year change in height SDS. The most frequent targeted treatment-emergent adverse events (% patients) were hypoglycemia (17.6%, predictors: young age, diagnosis of Laron syndrome, but not rhIGF-1 dose), lipohypertrophy (10.6%), tonsillar hypertrophy (7.4%), injection site reactions (6.4%), and headache (5.9%). Sixty-one serious adverse events (37 related to rhIGF-1 therapy) were reported in 31 patients (16.5%). CONCLUSION: Safety and effectiveness data on use of rhIGF-1 in a 'real-world' setting were similar to those from controlled randomized trials. Severe growth phenotype and early start of rhIGF-1 improved height response and predicted risk of hypoglycemia

Different thresholds of tissue-specific dose-responses to growth hormone in short prepubertal children

Background: In addition to stimulating linear growth in children, growth hormone (GH) influences metabolism and body composition. These effects should be considered when individualizing GH treatment as dose-dependent changes in metabolic markers have been reported. Hypothesis: There are different dose-dependent thresholds for metabolic effects in response to GH treatment. Method: A randomized, prospective, multicentre trial TRN 98-0198-003 was performed for a 2-year catch-up growth period, with two treatment regimens (a) individualized GH dose including six different dose groups ranging from 17-100 mu g/kg/day (n=87) and (b) fixed GH dose of 43 mu g/kg/day (n=41). The individualized GH dose group was used for finding dose-response effects, where the effective GH dose (ED 50%) required to achieve 50% Delta effect was calculated with piecewise linear regressions. Results: Different thresholds for the GH dose were found for the metabolic effects. The GH dose to achieve half of a given effect (ED 50%, with 90% confidence interval) was calculated as 33(+/- 24.4) mu g/kg/day for Delta left ventricular diastolic diameter (cm), 39(+/- 24.5) mu g/kg/day for Delta alkaline phosphatase (mu kat/L), 47(+/- 43.5) mu g/kg/day for Delta lean soft tissue (SDS), 48(+/- 35.7) mu g/kg/day for Delta insulin (mU/L), 51(+/- 47.6) mu g/kg/day for Delta height (SDS), and 57(+/- 52.7) mu g/kg/day for Delta insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) SDS. Even though lipolysis was seen in all subjects, there was no dose-response effect for Delta fat mass (SDS) or Delta leptin ng/ml in the dose range studied. None of the metabolic effects presented here were related to the dose selection procedure in the trial. Conclusions: Dose-dependent thresholds were observed for different GH effects, with cardiac tissue being the most responsive and level of IGF-I the least responsive. The level of insulin was more responsive than that of IGF-I, with the threshold effect for height in the interval between