LG Chem releases results of Korea's 1st long-term study on growth hormone treatment

LG Chem said it announced the results of the interim analysis of the Eutropin family’s observational study, a long-term prospective study of children with short stature in Korea, at the LG Growth Study (LGS) Symposium for pediatric growth specialists last Saturday.

LG Chem has been conducting the study since 2012, the first in Korea, to obtain long-term data on growth hormone treatment in Korean children. It is a large-scale study that will recruit 10,000 children for 20 years, until 2032, to observe long-term safety and efficacy. LG Chem presented an in-depth analysis of the results accumulated until last year at the symposium.

In a presentation titled “Interim Analysis of Safety and Efficacy of Eutropin in the 11th Year,” Professor Kim Ja-hye at Asan Medical Center said that Eutropin safely and effectively improved height growth in children with short stature.

The results of the follow-up of more than 6,000 patients at the time of enrollment confirmed clinically favorable safety. Regarding efficacy, growth velocity was improved in patients with a growth hormone deficiency, Turner syndrome, and unreasonably lightweight (i.e., have low birth weight) and patients with idiopathic short stature with normal growth hormone secretion.

LG Chem said it plans to develop a growth prediction model specialized for Korean children based on the accumulated data from the long-term study and support doctors' ongoing academic activities to improve the treatment environment for short stature.

“As a partner in the long-term treatment journey of children with short stature, we will continue to conduct various studies to ensure trust in growth hormone therapy,” said Park Heui-sul, executive vice president of LG Chem's Specialty & Care Business Division.

LG Chem launched the first short-stature treatment in Korea, Eutropin, in 1993, to replace imported products. Since then, the company has diversified its product formulations to include liquid and pen formats to expand customer choice.

According to the company, it invested more than 30 billion won ($22.3 million) last year to internalize the production process of the most popular pen formulation to further enhance supply stability.