Growth hormone reduces deep belly fat in HIV

From the September 2008 issue of Positive Living • By John Daye

A possible new treatment for excessive abdominal fat associated with HIV-related lipodystrophy was presented at IAS 2008. Dr Julian Falutz, from Montreal General Hospital reported that treatment with tesamorelin, which sparks the production of natural growth hormone, resulted in a significant loss of deep belly fat compared with a placebo dose in people with lipodystrophy in results from the first half of a Phase III clinical trial.

Those who received tesamorelin had a 10.9 percent decrease in deep belly fat compared with 0.6 percent decrease in those who received a placebo. This is thought to be a significant difference. The volume of fat directly below the skin increased by an average of 1.1 percent in the tesamorelin group and 0.9 in the placebo group. Falutz reported that treatment with tesamorelin increased lean body mass and decreased deep belly fat without impacting on limb fat.

Falutz J, et al. Results from the 26-week confirmatory, Phase 111 trial of tesamorelin (TH9507), a growth hormone-releasing factor analogue, in HIV patients with excess abdominal fat: A multi-centre, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 404 randomised patients. 17th International AIDS Conference, Mexico City. Abstract Poster LBPE1156, 2008

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This article was first published in September 2008.

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