Bevan JS et al. (2008) Home administration of lanreotide Autogel® by patients with acromegaly, or their partners, is safe and effective. Clin Endocrinol [doi:10.1111/j.1365-2265.2007.03044.x]

Patients with acromegaly require fortnightly or monthly injections of somatostatin analogs during clinic visits. The introduction of lanreotide, in the form of Somatuline Autogel® (SCRAS, Paris, France)—which does not require reconstitution before injection and is available in ready-to-use, prefilled syringes—raises the possibility that patients could be treated at home. Bevan and colleagues tested the efficacy and safety of home injection of Somatuline Autogel® in this multicenter, open-label, nonrandomized, controlled study.

Patients (aged 29–86 years) with acromegaly who had been treated with a stable dose of Somatuline Autogel® (60, 90 or 120 mg) for at least 4 months elected to receive their monthly injections either from a health-care professional, as before (control group; n = 15), or at home, unsupervised (test group; n = 15). Monitoring of efficacy and tolerance was carried out for up to 40 weeks.

All injectors in the test group (12 of whom were the patients and 3 were other people) were successfully trained to inject without requiring supervision and all 30 patients received adequate treatment throughout the study. Efficacy was similarly high in both groups, as indicated by maintenance of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor I levels in all but one patient in each group. In addition, there was no difference in injection tolerability between the groups.

Home administration of Somatuline Autogel® is effective and safe, and would benefit those patients who prefer its increased flexibility; home administration might also save health-care time and costs.