Somatrogon

Somatrogon is a long-acting recombinant human growth hormone. Growth hormone is a peptide hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that plays a crucial role in promoting longitudinal growth during childhood and adolescence and regulating metabolic function in adulthood. Recombinant growth hormone therapy for growth hormone deficiency and other conditions has been available since 1985, with daily administration being the standard treatment for many years. More recently, longer-acting forms of growth hormone were developed to improve patient adherence and thus, improve the therapeutic efficacy of treatment. Somatrogon was produced in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells using recombinant DNA technology. It is a chimeric product generated by fusing three copies of the C-terminal peptide (CTP), or 28 carboxy-terminal residues, from the beta chain of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to the N-terminus and C-terminus of human growth hormone. The glycosylation and the presence of CTPs in the protein sequence prolongs the half-life of somatrogon and allows its once-weekly dosing. In October 2021, Health Canada approved somatrogon under the market name NGENLA as the long-term treatment of pediatric patients who have growth failure due to an inadequate secretion of endogenous growth hormone caused by growth hormone deficiency, marking Canada as the first country to approve this drug. In June 2023, the FDA approved the use of somatrogon also for the treatment of pediatric growth hormone deficiency. Somatrogon is available as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection.