Merck Healthcare Korea launches dosing management platform for Saizen therapy

Merck Healthcare Korea said Monday it has launched Growzen Connect, a digital healthcare platform that enables healthcare professionals to manage dosing cycles for its growth hormone therapy Saizen, starting Feb. 26.

The company said the new platform completes its digital ecosystem for growth hormone therapy management, together with its existing patient and caregiver interface, Growzen Buddy.

Merck Healthcare Korea announced the Korean launch of Growzen Connect, a growth hormone administration record platform for healthcare professionals. (Courtesy of Merck Healthcare Korea)

Growzen Connect is a web-based platform that allows healthcare professionals to remotely track dosing data for patients receiving Saizen. The system uses data generated by Easypod, a smart injection device, allowing doctors to assess treatment progress and develop tailored treatment strategies.

The platform enables clinicians to review automatically recorded dosing data from Easypod -- including the date, time, and dose of each injection -- creating a data-driven treatment environment. This allows doctors to monitor how well patients follow prescribed treatment plans (adherence) and how long they continue therapy as prescribed (persistence), supporting timely interventions and treatment adjustments when needed.

The Growzen system automatically generates individualized reports based on each patient’s medication data. During consultations, doctors can review these reports with patients and caregivers to guide clinical decisions, such as adjusting dosages or modifying treatment approaches. The system also helps identify patients who show inadequate treatment responses.

Both Growzen Buddy and Growzen Connect can send automatic alerts to patients and healthcare professionals when adherence falls below recommended levels, helping reinforce treatment protocols.

In practice, patients using the digital healthcare system linked to Saizen showed differences in height growth indicators compared with patients using conventional pen injectors without digital connectivity.

In a clinical study conducted in Spain involving 174 patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and small for gestational age (SGA), the group using the digital healthcare system showed greater improvement in height standard deviation score (HSDS) from the second year of treatment onward.

HSDS measures how far a child’s height deviates from the average height of peers of the same age. An HSDS of zero indicates that a child’s height is equal to the age-matched average.

In the study, both groups showed increases in HSDS due to growth hormone therapy itself. However, the group using the connected digital healthcare system showed an additional improvement of +0.23 HSDS by the fourth year of treatment.

Merck Healthcare Korea cited WHO growth standards explaining that one standard deviation generally corresponds to about 6–7 cm depending on age. The additional +0.23 HSDS improvement therefore translates to roughly a 1.5–1.7 cm difference in height by year four, according to the company.

A modeling study predicted a potential 4.3 cm difference in final adult height after more than 10 years of continuous treatment. The estimate was derived from a separate cost-effectiveness analysis rather than from the four-year HSDS data.

The cost per 1 cm of height gain was also estimated to be about 14.5 percent lower, suggesting potential clinical and economic benefits.

“With growth hormone therapies, since the active ingredients are identical, consistent patient adherence is critical for optimal outcomes,” said Professor Shim Kye-shik of Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, president of the Korean Society of Pediatric Endocrinology. “A data-driven digital healthcare platform can improve patient adherence and allow doctors to closely monitor treatment progress. This makes personalized care more feasible and may enhance outcomes in long-term growth hormone therapy.”

Hwang In-kyum, head of the endocrinology business unit at Merck Healthcare Korea, said, “We hope Growzen Connect will help shift growth hormone therapy in Korea from experience-based management to data-driven care.”

Hwang added that the company will continue supporting healthcare professionals with tools that enable precise treatment management while improving patient and caregiver engagement throughout therapy.

Saizen is currently the "only growth hormone therapy in Korea" that offers both the Easypod automated injection device and the Growzen digital healthcare platform, according to the company.

Easypod allows customized settings for injection speed and depth to tailor administration to individual patient needs.

According to a patient-reported study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, 97.4 percent of Easypod users reported little or no injection pain, which may help support adherence in long-term therapy.