"Ghrelin has a lot of interesting activities besides growth hormone release, such as [regulation of] feeding, energy homeostasis, and the cardiovascular system, says Kangawa, "and that attracts researchers from many fields." Lilly's article was the "first to show that ghrelin plays an important role in energy balance, and that [this effect] may be even more important than its effect on growth hormone," says Mark Heiman, Lilly's research adviser in its endocrine division.
Subsequently, researchers began making nonpeptide derivatives of Bowers' molecules, which they hoped would be orally active growth hormone stimulators. They called these derivatives growth-hormone secretagogues (GHS) to distinguish them from Bowers' peptides. Other investigators studied the structure of GHRH, which was found to be nothing like that of Bowers' peptides, suggesting that they act on a receptor other than GHRH.
Companies such as Eli Lilly became interested in GHS for its potential use in the human growth hormone ...
