Drug boosts growth in dwarf children

The drug vosoritide was tested in children aged five to 14 years.

A ground-breaking drug that helps regulate bone development may boost growth rates in children with achondroplasia - the most common type of dwarfism -according to scientists who conducted a global trial.

The drug vosoritide was tested in children aged five to 14 years, according to the research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study ran over four years receiving daily subcutaneous doses of the drug in increasing amounts. The patients’ average boost in height to about six centimetres per year was close to growth rates among children of average stature, and the side effects were mostly mild .