Treatment of Pediatric Growth Hormone Deficiency With Oral Secretagogues Revisited

Abstract

Growth hormone (GH) secretagogues have been explored for more than 40 years. They are small synthetic peptide and nonpeptide drugs with GH-releasing activity that can be administered by intravenous, subcutaneous, intranasal, and oral routes and have variable bioavailability [ 1]. LUM-201, ibutamoren, formerly MK-0677, was designed in 1995. LUM-201 and others were studied as alternative agents for GH stimulation testing, and some showed promise as diagnostic tools [ 1-3]. In 2017, one such agent, macimorelin, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a diagnostic agent for adult GH deficiency (GHD) [ 4].