Humatrope, an Eli Lilly drug developed to treat growth hormone disorders in children, has been approved [1]for use on otherwise healthy children who happen to be short. The advisory committee apprently "agonized" over the decision before voting

8-2 to recommend approving Humatrope for the new use after debating whether children who are otherwise healthy should be given multiple injections every week for years in order to grow what may amount to a few inches. At that meeting, Lilly argued that short children often face teasing and bullying, as well as social isolation as adults, and therefore needed a treatment option.

What the article doesn't say is how much the advisory committee members were paid by Eli Lilly. Because while I sympathize with children who are short or who have any other physical quality that makes them stand out among their peers (I was fat and wore glasses, plus I was Jewish--you got a "treatment option" for Jewish, Lilly?) I can't see any medically conscientious reason for administering several injections a week for years to achieve, at best, a 4-inch boost in height (and usually around 1 1/2 inch).

"Some kids really benefit more than others," said Dr. David Orloff, director of the FDA's division of metabolic and endocrine drug products. Doctors are unsure how to identify which children will respond better, Orloff said.

Great.