The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has undertaken a review of recombinant human growth hormone (somatropin) after a French study determined that some kids who take it because they are abnormally short may be at a small increased risk of death.
The FDA does not recommend that patients stop taking recombinant human growth hormone before talking to their physicians, as it believes the benefit of the hormone still outweighs its potential risks. However, the FDA is now reviewing all available information on this potential risk and plans to issue new recommendations, if necessary, once the review is completed.
Meanwhile, healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program here.
Recombinant human growth hormone, a manufactured protein that is nearly identical to the main form of the naturally occurring human growth hormone, can stimulate tissue growth, protein, carbohydrate, lipid and mineral metabolism, and increases in height and weight.
In the U.S., it is used to treat children with short stature due to growth hormone deficiency (including idiopathic growth hormone deficiency), Turner syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) deficiency, chronic renal insufficiency, and idiopathic short stature, as well as children small for gestational age. Recombinant human growth hormone is marketed under the following brand names: Genotropin, Humatrope, Norditropin, Nutropin, Nutropin AQ, Omnitrope, Saizen, and Tev-Tropin.
Source: Food and Drug Administration