A GH Secretagogue Receptor Agonist (LUM-201) Elicits Greater GH Responses than Standard GH Secretagogues in Subjects of a Pediatric GH Deficiency Trial.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Within-subject comparative study of acute endocrine response in a clinical trial cohort
PubMed 35354138 · doi:10.1159/000524244
What was done
The acute growth hormone (GH) response to a single dose of oral LUM-201 (ibutamoren/MK-0677, a GH secretagogue receptor agonist) was compared against standard provocative GH diagnostic tests (arginine, glucagon, clonidine, L-dopa, and insulin-induced hypoglycemia) in 68 pediatric subjects participating in a growth hormone deficiency clinical trial.
What was found
LUM-201 elicited significantly higher peak GH concentrations compared to standard GH diagnostic stimuli: median (interquartile range) was 15.0 ng/mL (3.5 to 49) for LUM-201 versus 5.5 ng/mL (1.8 to 7.6) for standard tests (p < 0.0001). The difference between responses was greatest in subjects with higher baseline IGF-I concentrations and higher GH responses to conventional stimulation tests.
Why it matters
Oral LUM-201 can stimulate endogenous GH release more potently than conventional provocation tests, suggesting potential utility as an oral therapeutic alternative to daily recombinant human GH injections in a subset of pediatric patients with residual pituitary responsiveness.
Limits
The abstract reports only acute single-dose GH responses, providing no data on long-term growth velocity, final height outcomes, or sustained efficacy. The sample size is modest (n = 68), safety and adverse event data are not reported in the abstract, and trial design specifics (such as randomized dosing sequences) are not detailed.
Cited by
- supports MK-677 (ibutamoren) is a non-peptide growth hormone secretagogue and ghrelin receptor agonist.