Once-bimonthly human growth hormone injection to go on human testing

hGH-CTP, a long-acting version of human growth hormone may be coming soon in the markets, according to Prolor Biotech, Inc.

Synthetic versions of human growth hormone (hGH) help deficient kids and adults achieve required level of growth. Treatment with growth hormone requires that kid or adults should multiple injections in a week for several years.

The need for these multiple injections can be brought down once-weekly or bimonthly injections, if Prolor’s new long-acting version of hGH turns out successful.

Prolor has started human testing of its new growth hormone therapy called hGH-CTP. Initial studies with have found
the new version of hGH safe and that hGH-CTP could potentially be effective when injected just twice per month.

“We are enthusiastic about the therapeutic potential of hGH-CTP based on its compelling preclinical and clinical safety and bioactivity data,” said Abraham Havron, Ph.D., CEO of Prolor.

Growth hormone therapy requires many years of daily injections.  For example, a 10-year old growth hormone-deficient child will be injected with hGH approximately 3,000 times by the age of 18, and a 30-year-old diagnosed with adult-onset growth hormone deficiency would require more than 16,000 injections by the age of 75, Havron added.

The hGH-CTP phase II trial will evaluate the safety, and effectiveness of hGH-CTP injected either weekly or twice-monthly in patients with growth hormone deficiency who currently receive daily injections of growth hormone.

The long-acting growth hormone trial will take place at up to 14 sites in six countries.

Prolor Biotech, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company which new technologies to develop longer-acting, biobetter, proprietary versions of already-approved therapeutic proteins that currently generate billions of dollars in annual global sales.

The CTP technology is applicable to virtually all proteins, and Prolor is currently developing long-acting versions of human growth hormone, which is in clinical development, and interferon beta, factor VII, factor IX and erythropoietin, which are in
preclinical development, as well as GLP-1 and other therapeutic peptides.