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Compound monograph · evidence extract

Tesamorelin in hiv-associated lipodystrophy and excess visceral adiposity — evidence extract

The Institute's graded assessment of Tesamorelin for hiv-associated lipodystrophy and excess visceral adiposity, with the contributing trials and the domain-by-domain certainty reasoning.

Document identifier
CEI-MN-021/EV-LIPODYSTROPHY
Series
Evidence extract
Version
4.2
Published
01 Dec 2023
Last reviewed
01 Sep 2024
Next review
01 Sep 2026
Identifier
10.71829/cei.mono.21
Certainty
Moderate
Cycle
2023 Q4

§1Evidence extract: HIV-associated lipodystrophy and excess visceral adiposity

§1.1Question and anchor outcome

Population
Abnormal regional fat distribution with excess visceral adipose tissue, in the setting of HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy.
Intervention
Tesamorelin, subcutaneous once daily
Comparator
As used in each contributing trial; reported per trial rather than pooled across comparator types
Anchor outcome
Change in visceral adipose tissue area by computed tomography

Additional outcomes the Institute extracts for this indication: Change in triglycerides; Change in IGF-1; Glucose tolerance.

§1.2Contributing trials

Table 1. Trials contributing to the assessment of Tesamorelin in hiv-associated lipodystrophy and excess visceral adiposity.

TrialPhaseDesignRandomisedDurationYear
TESA-PIVOTAL-13Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled41226 weeks2010
TESA-PIVOTAL-23Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled40426 weeks2010

§1.3Certainty assessment

Certainty assessment by domainDowngrading decision recorded for each certainty domain.Certainty domainNo concernSeriousVery seriousEffect on ratingRisk of biasno downgradeInconsistencyno downgradeIndirectnessno downgradeImprecisiondowngrade one levelPublication biasno downgradeTotal downgrading: 1 levelModerate certainty
Figure 2. Domain-by-domain certainty assessment for Tesamorelin in hiv-associated lipodystrophy and excess visceral adiposity. The starting rating for a body of randomised evidence is high; each serious concern reduces it by one level and each very serious concern by two.

Table 2. Reasoning recorded against each certainty domain.

DomainRatingReasoning
Risk of biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
InconsistencyNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
IndirectnessNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
ImprecisionSeriousA single small trial contributes the whole estimate.
Publication biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
Overall rating: Moderate certainty. The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Further research is likely to have an important impact on confidence in the estimate.

§1.4What this extract does not establish

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. Falutz J, Allas S, Blot K, Potvin D, Kotler D, Somero M, Berger D, Brown S, Richmond G, Fessel J, Turner R, Grinspoon S. Metabolic effects of a growth hormone-releasing factor in patients with HIV. New England Journal of Medicine 2007;357(23):2359–2370. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa072375 · PMID 18052660
  2. Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs 1999;12(2):139–157. doi:10.2165/00063030-199912020-00007 · PMID 18031173
  3. Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. Prolonged stimulation of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I secretion by CJC-1295, a long-acting analog of GH-releasing hormone, in healthy adults. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2006;91(3):799–805. doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536 · PMID 16352683

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