Journey Of Human Growth Hormone Products

Human growth hormone plays an important role in human growth processes and metabolism processes. HGH is secreted in bursts by the anterior part of the pituitary gland. HGH levels are determined by this secretion and HGH levels affect the growth of an individual. A normal amount of HGH is required in every individual to optimize his chances for growth development. However, not all people are fortunate to have the exact amount of HGH. The incapacity to have normal HGH levels lead to HGH diseases. These diseases are characterized by low stature or excessive height.

The treatment and cure for these HGH diseases has been the subject of research for a long period of time. Human growth hormone was discovered by Dr. Harvey Cushing in 1912. The HGH was widely discussed and explained all over scientific journals in the next ten years. In 1958, Dr. Maurice Maben successfully treated a 17 year old boy of growth hormone deficiency. Maben purified growth hormone from a cadaver and injected it to the boy to enhance the deficiency. Because of Maben's successful treatment, researchers extensively looked at all possibilities of treating HGH diseases. Cadaver GH became a popular method in treating HGH diseases.

The method of using cadaver GH for treating HGH diseases was decreased when majority of the patients treated with it was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in 1985 – a very rare neurodegenerative disease that is transmissible and usually ends in death within eight months of acquiring the disease. CJD was given large attention because it had appeared as a side effect of cadaver GH.

Researchers explored on different methods to treat HGH diseases without the treat of acquiring CJD. In 1985, the Orphan Drug Act was passed in Congress as a financial benefit for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for HGH diseases. It was also during this time that gene splicing together with genetic engineering was invented. Genetic engineering made it possible for scientists to categorize proteins and to clone them.

Genetic engineering process entails producing a desired protein through inserting a gene into laboratory cell lines. This is called recombinant gene technology. Genentech made the first recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) in 1985 and was approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration in October that year.

Genentech's rhGH Protropin was almost identical to the DNA chain of HGH except its code chain was off by one amino acid. This trivial disparity from the HGH didn't affect the effectiveness of Protropin but offered other companies the possibility of competition. In 1986, an Indianapolis-based company, Eli Lily developed a HGH product, Humatrope that was identical to the 191 amino acid chain of HGH.

Genentech and Eli Lily battled for patent issues and exclusive rights of distribution and both cited Orphan Drug Act of 1985 as protection. The battle was settled in court with the court permitting both companies to distribute their products and prohibiting other companies to distribute HGH products. Both companies earned a lot of money in marketing their respective products. However, the big news for HGH products was not the treatment of HGH diseases but the possibility to reverse aging.

Human growth hormone products and supplements are now openly circulated in the market. These products are of different forms; pills, oral sprays and injectables.

The methods of treating human growth hormone diseases have come a long way from cadaver GH. There are different supplements and products which are available in the market and do not have fatal side effects like CJD. Nonetheless, it is still a long journey for HGH products to prove that they can truly reverse aging.