At least one doctor is less than enthusiastic about the fountain of youth hormone drug test being tested on patients over 60. Newcastle upon Tyne consultant endocrinologist Fredrick Clark is critical of the experiment sponsored by St. Thomas’ Hospital in London that is supposed to turn OAPs into a real life version of the movie “Cocoon”.
Daily injection of human growth hormone, usually only given to children of retarded growth, is supposed to transform a sagging physique and middle age spread into a body 20 years younger. At present, St. Thomas’ is inviting people over 60 to participate in the treatment, due to start later in l990.Clark, seemingly the sole voice cautioning restraint, says that the hormone could carry the same risks of diabetes or cardiovascular disease usually seen in adults who naturally produce an excess of the hormone: “The role of growth hormone in adults,” he says, “is still not very well understood.”