Tabimorelin

Tabimorelin (NN-703) is a drug which acts as a potent, orally active growth hormone secretagogue, mimicking the effects of the endogenous peptide agonist ghrelin as a stimulator of growth hormone release. It was one of the first GH secretagogues developed and is largely a modified polypeptide, but it is nevertheless orally active in vivo. Tabimorelin produced sustained increases in levels of growth hormone and IGF-1, along with smaller transient increases in levels of other hormones such as ACTH, cortisol and prolactin. However actual clinical effects on growth-hormone deficient adults were limited, with only the most severely GH-deficient patients showing significant benefit, and tabimorelin was also found to act as a CYP3A4 inhibitor which could cause it to have undesirable interactions with other drugs.