Proper use of growth hormone.

Growth hormone treatment is in a state of flux. While it is gratifying that a product which was recently in such short supply should now be available in unlimited quantity thanks to advances in biotechnology, the achievement has been a costly one and the pharmaceutical industry naturally wishes to recoup its investment and make a profit. Only one company in the United Kingdom currently holds a product licence for somatropin (authentic recombinant growth hormone) but competition is expected daily. At a round price of 5000 per patient year there is keen interest by the industry, the profession, and the government as well as the patients and their parents in who should get growth hormone. The equally important questions of who should prescribe, dispense, and pay for growth hormone are inter- locked with clinical decision taking but must remain at the fringe of this annotation.