Development of Growth Hormone Secretagogues

The GH secretagogues (GHS) were developed by reverse pharmacology. The objective was to develop small molecules with pharmacokinetics suitable for once-daily oral administration that would rejuvenate the GH/IGF-I axis. Neither the receptor nor the ligand that controlled pulse amplitude of hormone release was known; therefore, identification of lead structures was based on function. I reasoned that GH pulse amplitude could be increased by four...