Slow release lanreotide treatment in acromegalic patients previously normalized by octreotide.

Several clinical studies reported the efficacy of the long-acting SRIH analog, octreotide (Octreotide, Sandoz) in the treatment of acromegaly. Recently, another SRIH analog (BIM 23014, Ipsen Biotech) was shown to decrease plasma GH levels in acromegalic patients. The recent availability of a long-acting formulation of BIM 23014 [slow release (SR) lanreotide] could avoid the inconveniences associated with either repeated sc injections or continuous sc infusions. In this study, we compared the clinical and biochemical efficacies of both drugs in a cohort of 19 acromegalic patients, considered initially as responsive to octreotide and sequentially treated with octreotide (3 sc injections of 100-200 micrograms/day) for 12 months and with SR lanreotide (30 mg, im, every 10 or 14 days) for 6 months. Before octreotide treatment, baseline plasma GH (mean +/- SE of 8 hourly samplings) was 29.0 +/- 10.0 micrograms/L and was lowered to 3.2 +/- .2 micrograms/L during the first 7 h after the first 100-micrograms sc oc...