Prescribing Information | For Health Care Providers | Safety Information

Support Center

Treatment Support

  • Is it difficult to prepare injections with GENOTROPIN® (somatropin [rDNA origin] for injection)?
  • I'm having trouble remembering details from the training session. How can I review the instructions and see the injection process being done?
  • Where on the body should the injections be given?
  • How can I avoid using the same injection sites too often?
  • Does the medicine in GENOTROPIN need to be mixed?
  • Do all devices need to be refrigerated? What if I forget to refrigerate my device?
  • How do I handle giving GENOTROPIN during a trip?
  • Should treatment with GENOTROPIN be continued when my child gets sick?
  • When is the best time to give GENOTROPIN?
  • How long might my child be taking GENOTROPIN?
  • When should my child learn how to do the injections himself or herself?
  • What if my child's friends begin asking about GENOTROPIN? What should he or she tell them?
  • How can I help involve my child and help him or her understand treatment?

Is it difficult to prepare injections with GENOTROPIN?

Before long, giving your child GENOTROPIN will be just a routine part of the day. Like brushing your teeth, it's just something you'll do each day.

I'm having trouble remembering details from the training session. How can I review the instructions and see the injection process being done?

To help you remember how GENOTROPIN is injected, you can watch a step-by-step demonstration video for:

Where on the body should the injections be given?

GENOTROPIN is injected just below the skin. Your doctor or nurse will suggest the best area for your child. Most often, he or she will tell you to use the thigh, the stomach, or the rear end. The doctor or nurse will also tell you it's important to change to a different injection area each day. This helps make sure that the same spot won't get sore or lumpy.

How can I avoid using the same injection sites too often?

To help you change the injection site each time, divide the area into smaller spots. Then choose a different spot each time. Keep track of the places you have recently used, so you know to pick a different one.

Look in your Starter Kit for a handy set of stickers and a calendar to make it easy to keep track of which injection sites you have been using recently. It can help you and your child remember to rotate injection sites.

Chart of GENOTROPIN Injection Sites (Front) Chart of GENOTROPIN Injection Sites (Back)

Does the medicine in GENOTROPIN need to be mixed?

Each device for GENOTROPIN has a 2-chamber cartridge. This cartridge holds both the liquid and the powdered medicine. It mixes them together inside the cartridge.

Do all devices need to be refrigerated? What if I forget to refrigerate my device?

Except for the GENOTROPIN MiniQuick®, GENOTROPIN should be kept in the refrigerator (but do not freeze it). Once GENOTROPIN has been mixed, it can be refrigerated for no more than 28 days. It should be used within that period. If for some reason you leave GENOTROPIN outside the refrigerator, contact your doctor or your Patient Care Consultant (PCC) at the Pfizer Bridge Program®.

How do I handle giving GENOTROPIN during a trip?

Unless you are told otherwise, take the GENOTROPIN supplied and the injection device with you. For devices that need to be refrigerated, like the GENOTROPIN Pen, make sure GENOTROPIN is kept cool, at 2 to 8 degrees celcius or 36 to 46 degrees farenheight (but not frozen), while it is outside the refrigerator. Always carry GENOTROPIN in an insulated travel bag or a small ice chest until you can put it back in a refrigerator. (An insulated travel bag can be found in your child's Starter Kit.) If GENOTROPIN freezes or gets too hot, call your doctor or nurse to see what to do.

Should treatment with GENOTROPIN be continued when my child gets sick?

A common cold or minor illness should not affect treatment with GENOTROPIN. But call the doctor or nurse if you are not sure.

When is the best time to give GENOTROPIN?

Try to give GENOTROPIN at the same time everyday, at a time when you and your child are not rushed. Many doctors suggest that the best time to give your child GENOTROPIN is just before he or she goes to bed. Then it can become part of the "getting ready for bed" routine each night, like brushing their teeth. Another reason bedtime is a good time is because the body naturally releases growth hormone at night, during sleep. So giving GENOTROPIN at this time allows you to follow the same pattern the body does.

How long might my child be taking GENOTROPIN?

There is no age at which treatment with GENOTROPIN must stop. As long as your child responds to treatment, the doctor will probably continue it. Talk to the doctor if you have questions about how long your child's treatment will continue.

When should my child learn how to do the injections himself or herself?

There is really no set age for children to do their own injections. It depends on how comfortable you and your child are with injecting. It also depends on the advice of the doctor. You might start by letting your child help clean the injection site with an alcohol swab. Or your child can hold the injection device as you prepare to inject. An older child can be asked to keep track of the different places on the body that have already gotten injections. As soon as your child shows interest in doing the injections, ask the doctor or nurse for help in training your child.

What if my child's friends begin asking about GENOTROPIN? What should he or she tell them?

If they know your child is taking growth hormone, your child can say, "My doctor said my body needs help growing and GENOTROPIN will help me grow." If your child's friends don't know about it, your child doesn't have to tell them. It's up to you and your child.

How can I help involve my child and help him or her understand treatment?

In your Starter Kit, you will find helpful materials designed for your child. These include a height chart poster that can be put on the wall to help you measure your child's growth. There is also a colorful calendar with stickers that can help your child help you to remember to rotate the injection sites.

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Indications

GENOTROPIN® (somatropin [rDNA origin] for injection) is a prescription product for the treatment of growth failure in:

  • children who do not make enough growth hormone on their own. This condition is called growth hormone deficiency (GHD).
  • children who were born smaller than most other babies born after the same number of weeks of pregnancy. Some of these babies may not show catch-up growth by age 2. This condition is called small for gestational age (SGA). 
  • children with a genetic condition called Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Growth hormone is not right for all children with PWS. Check with your doctor. 
  • girls with a genetic condition called Turner syndrome (TS). Growth hormone should be used to treat TS only in girls who are still growing. 
  • children with idiopathic short stature (ISS), which means that they are shorter than 98.8% of other children of the same age and sex; they are growing at a rate that is not likely to allow them to reach normal adult height; and their growth plates have not closed. Other causes of short height should be ruled out. ISS has no known cause.

GENOTROPIN is a prescription product for the replacement of growth hormone in adults with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) that started either in childhood or as an adult. Your doctor should do tests to be sure you have GHD, as appropriate.

Important Safety Information

Growth hormone should not be used to increase height in children after the growth plates have closed.

Growth hormone should not be used in patients with diabetes who have certain types of diabetic retinopathy (eye problems).

Growth hormone should not be used in patients with cancer or who are being treated for cancer. Growth hormone deficiency can be caused by brain tumors. So, the presence of these brain tumors should be ruled out before treatment is started. Growth hormone should not be used if it is shown that a previous brain tumor has come back or is getting larger.

Growth hormone should not be used in patients who are critically ill because of surgery, trauma, or respiratory failure.

Growth hormone should not be used in children with Prader-Willi syndrome who are very overweight or have severe breathing problems.

Other Safety Information

Dosage of diabetes medicines may need to be adjusted during growth hormone treatment. Patients should be watched carefully if growth hormone is given along with glucocorticoid therapy and/or other drugs that are processed by the body in the same way.

In childhood cancer survivors, treatment with growth hormone may increase the risk of a new tumor, particularly certain benign brain tumors. This risk may be higher in patients who were treated with cranial radiation.

A small number of patients treated with growth hormone have had increased pressure in the brain. This can cause headaches and problems with vision. Treatment should be stopped and reassessed in these patients. Patients with Turner syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome may be at higher risk of developing increased pressure in the brain.

Thyroid function should be checked regularly during growth hormone therapy. Thyroid hormone replacement therapy should be started or adjusted if needed.

Patients treated with growth hormone should be checked regularly if they are receiving standard hormone replacement therapy to treat a lack of more than one hormone.

In children experiencing rapid growth, curvature of the spine may develop or worsen. This is also called scoliosis.

In children experiencing rapid growth, limping or hip or knee pain may occur.

GENOTROPIN should only be used during pregnancy if clearly needed. It should be used with caution in nursing mothers because it is not known whether growth hormone is present in human milk.

A different site should be used each day for growth hormone injections. This can help to prevent skin problems such as lumpiness or soreness.

A health care provider will help you with the first injection. He or she will also train you on how to inject GENOTROPIN.

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