Growth Hormone Just Another Disappointment for ALS Patients
By: Heather Hajek
Published: Sunday, 7 December 2008



Researchers had high hopes that the growth hormone named insulin-like growth factor or IGF-1 would benefit those patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Unfortunately the results of a new study came up short, meaning that there is still only one medication, Sanofi-Aventis’s drug Rilutek, that has FDA approval for treatment of the disease.

ALS causes patients to suffer from weakened and eventually deteriorated muscles, which very often leads to patients requiring a tracheotomy for breathing. The disease usually affects patients ranging in age from 40 to 60 and they get progressively worse over time. A very difficult to endure, there is very limited treatment, and death occurs within three years in 50 percent of the patients, with 80 percent succumbing within five years.

With scientists desperate to find better treatment for ALS patients, a new study was implemented over a two-year period to test the capability of IGF-1 as a treatment option for the disease. There have been two previous studies conducted to test the IGF-1 as a treatment for ALS. One study was held in North America, and its results showed patients did benefit from the IGF-1 treatment. However, patients involved in the European study showed no benefit from the treatment. Therefore, scientists decided to conduct a new longer study in an effort to show whether patients could benefit from the IGF-1 treatment.

The new study, released in the November 25th issue of Neurology, was conducted in the United States and involved 330 patients, 210 men and 120 women with ALS, from 20 different medical centers. The patients muscle strength was tested at the beginning of the study and five times during the two-year period of the study. The researchers also tracked the time period that patients went without requiring a tracheotomy, or tube to be inserted in the neck to help with breathing, and their ability to perform their daily tasks. The patients were divided evenly into two groups. One group was given IGF-1 injections daily and the other group was given a placebo.

Neither group benefited from their treatments more than the other. The two groups reported similar muscle strengths, abilities to perform daily tasks, and the time they went without requiring a tracheotomy for help with breathing during the study.

Dr. Eric J. Sorenson, the study author with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and colleagues said in the American of Neurology news release, “It’s disappointing that we were not able to confirm the benefit that was found in the North American Study. The current treatment options for ALS are inadequate, and more effective treatments are vitally needed.”

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