Octreotide for Acromegaly
Octreotide is the only analog currently available for clinical use in the treatment of acromegaly in the United States. Lanreotide has been used extensively in Europe for the treatment of acromegaly.
Octreotide is 45 times more potent at suppressing pituitary GH secretion than native somatostatin-14 1).
Octreotide is a mature drug with a consolidated favorable benefit versus risks profile in the treatment of acromegaly 2).
Using standard benchmarks for cost-effectiveness in the US ($100,000/QALY), preoperative octreotide therapy followed by surgery may not be cost-effective compared to direct surgery for patients with growth-hormone secreting pituitary neuroendocrine tumors but the result is highly sensitive to initial treatment failure and duration of preoperative treatment 3)