Once again, HeadDoc launches toward the future.
I have been thinking about Sermorelin for some time now. While speaking at a medical conference in Denver in June, sponsored by College Pharmacy, I heard two lectures on the subject which, frankly, stopped me dead in my tracks (one must always maintain an open mind in medicine, and remain a true man or woman of science). Dr. Walker's presentation dropped my jaw.
Except for a couple of my patients who do not possess a pituitary gland, I believe I will soon be switching my Adult Onset Growth Hormone Deficiency patients over to this new treatment strategy. I just need a bit more time to think about my pathways.
In short, Sermorelin is to the pituitary as HCG is to the testes.
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Unlike HGH, Sermorelin affects a more primary source of failure in the GH neuroendocrine axis, has more physiological activity, has a better safety profile, and its use for adult hormone deficiency is not restricted (as is HGH).*
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*Dr. Richard F. Walker,
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While there is a wealth of information showing that long-term administration of
rhGH reduces intrinsic disease and extends life in adults suffering pathogenic GHD,
consensus on whether extrapolation of those data to the aging condition is justified
has not been reached (Perls et al 2005).
Most of the major concerns derive from the
fact that rhGH is mitogenic and may awaken latent cancers, that improper dose
selection may promote metabolic disorders such as diabetes, and perhaps that
pharmacological presentation may exacerbate decline of endocrine function by
distorting essential hormonal interactions.
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Effects are regulated by negative feedback involving the
inhibitory neurohormone, somatostatin, so that unlike
administration of exogenous rhGH, overdoses of
endogenous hGH are difficult if not impossible to
achieve,
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Unlike
rhGH which has legal restrictions on its clinical use, the
off-label prescribing of sermorelin is not prohibited by
federal law.
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In support of this effort, the Society for Applied Research
in Aging will be providing sermorelin free of cost on a
competitive basis to practitioners willing to study its effects
under protocol conditions and to report the outcomes in a
peer-reviewed journal such as Clinical Interventions in
Aging