Experience with pegvisomant in the treatment of acromegaly

Established modalities of therapy for acromegaly (surgical adenomectomy, external beam pituitary irradiation, oral dopamine agonists, and injectable somatostatin analogues) have as their common goal the lowering of circulating growth hormone (GH) levels, with a consequent reduction in serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Pegvisomant is a GH receptor antagonist that inhibits GH receptor dimerization and has a powerful ability to lower serum IGF-I levels in patients with active acromegaly. Currently available data suggest that pegvisomant is an effective treatment for acromegaly that is safe, well tolerated, and not associated with expansion of residual pituitary tumour over the time period studied.