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New pill from Pfizer to increase GH secretion
New drug would postpone old age
Scientists may have found a proverbial fountain of youth, a drug that appears to slow and even reverse the physical effects of aging.
In tests on nearly 400 men and women aged 65 and older, drug giant Pfizer's experimental pill significantly boosted levels of a hormone behind the growth spurt at puberty.
Compared to those on a placebo, volunteers given the hormone stimulator called capromorelin experienced a 1.4 kilogram average increase in muscle mass.
After six months of treatment, they showed a significant improvement in their ability to do a "tandem walk" the kind of heel-to-toe, roadside sobriety test police make suspected impaired drivers do and that is a good measure of balance.
After 12 months, they were better able to climb stairs.
The results are in no way conclusive that researchers have found a drug to keep people vigorous and vital long into old age, lead author Dr. George Merriam, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington/VA Puget Sound Health Care System, says.
But it is proof in principle that drugs might slow age-related decline in physical functioning, "and allow people, instead of having to be put into nursing homes, to continue to fend on their own."
"I'm an optimist on this subject, otherwise I wouldn't be knocking my head against the wall for years and years doing this," Merriam told a press briefing Wednesday at the International Congress of Neuroendocrinology in Pittsburgh.
Baby boomers who can afford to are already experimenting with growth hormone injections. But studies so far have been mixed. And instead of taking a synthetic form of growth hormones, Pfizer's drug stimulates people to make more of their own.
The compound is the second to be developed by a major drug company. Merck's MK677 is also being tested in humans, and early results suggest it, too, increases lean body mass.
Whether it's estrogen for women, testosterone supplements for men, or growth hormones for both sexes, the potential market for an anti-aging elixir "is of course huge," Merriam says.
People are living longer than ever: Statistics Canada estimates that by 2010, there will be 4.7 million people over 65 in Canada. But longer life comes with a price.
"When we grow old, we don't retain all of our youthful vigour and independence up until 30 seconds before we die," Merriam said in an interview. Instead, people face a few or many years of declining physical capabilities, "where we end up doing less and less until finally we can't even do the basic activities of daily living.''
The goal is to make it so that, even if people don't live longer, "you live better."
It's already known some people age better than others. The question is, why?
At puberty, teens experience enormous bursts of growth hormone secretions, along with the sex steroids.
Those growth hormones peak at 18, plateau in young adult life, and then gradually start to decline. Along with that comes a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in fat, especially abdominal fat.
Pfizer's drug acts like ghrelin, a recently discovered stomach hormone that boosts the secretion of growth hormones.
The trial, paid for by Pfizer, involved 395 healthy men and women aged 65 to 84 from a dozen sites across the U.S. The group was generally healthy but showing signs of physical impairment. For example, they had to have fallen in the previous year, or their grip was weakening.
Taking any one of the different doses of drug compared to a placebo caused a boost in overall growth hormone secretion.
Side effects included a slight increase in morning fasting glucose levels before breakfast. Still, none of the studies is yet on "anywhere near as big a scale as would be needed to give us the full picture of the pros and the cons," Merriam says.
New drug would postpone old age
Scientists may have found a proverbial fountain of youth, a drug that appears to slow and even reverse the physical effects of aging.
In tests on nearly 400 men and women aged 65 and older, drug giant Pfizer's experimental pill significantly boosted levels of a hormone behind the growth spurt at puberty.
Compared to those on a placebo, volunteers given the hormone stimulator called capromorelin experienced a 1.4 kilogram average increase in muscle mass.
After six months of treatment, they showed a significant improvement in their ability to do a "tandem walk" the kind of heel-to-toe, roadside sobriety test police make suspected impaired drivers do and that is a good measure of balance.
After 12 months, they were better able to climb stairs.
The results are in no way conclusive that researchers have found a drug to keep people vigorous and vital long into old age, lead author Dr. George Merriam, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington/VA Puget Sound Health Care System, says.
But it is proof in principle that drugs might slow age-related decline in physical functioning, "and allow people, instead of having to be put into nursing homes, to continue to fend on their own."
"I'm an optimist on this subject, otherwise I wouldn't be knocking my head against the wall for years and years doing this," Merriam told a press briefing Wednesday at the International Congress of Neuroendocrinology in Pittsburgh.
Baby boomers who can afford to are already experimenting with growth hormone injections. But studies so far have been mixed. And instead of taking a synthetic form of growth hormones, Pfizer's drug stimulates people to make more of their own.
The compound is the second to be developed by a major drug company. Merck's MK677 is also being tested in humans, and early results suggest it, too, increases lean body mass.
Whether it's estrogen for women, testosterone supplements for men, or growth hormones for both sexes, the potential market for an anti-aging elixir "is of course huge," Merriam says.
People are living longer than ever: Statistics Canada estimates that by 2010, there will be 4.7 million people over 65 in Canada. But longer life comes with a price.
"When we grow old, we don't retain all of our youthful vigour and independence up until 30 seconds before we die," Merriam said in an interview. Instead, people face a few or many years of declining physical capabilities, "where we end up doing less and less until finally we can't even do the basic activities of daily living.''
The goal is to make it so that, even if people don't live longer, "you live better."
It's already known some people age better than others. The question is, why?
At puberty, teens experience enormous bursts of growth hormone secretions, along with the sex steroids.
Those growth hormones peak at 18, plateau in young adult life, and then gradually start to decline. Along with that comes a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in fat, especially abdominal fat.
Pfizer's drug acts like ghrelin, a recently discovered stomach hormone that boosts the secretion of growth hormones.
The trial, paid for by Pfizer, involved 395 healthy men and women aged 65 to 84 from a dozen sites across the U.S. The group was generally healthy but showing signs of physical impairment. For example, they had to have fallen in the previous year, or their grip was weakening.
Taking any one of the different doses of drug compared to a placebo caused a boost in overall growth hormone secretion.
Side effects included a slight increase in morning fasting glucose levels before breakfast. Still, none of the studies is yet on "anywhere near as big a scale as would be needed to give us the full picture of the pros and the cons," Merriam says.
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