MELBOURNE researchers are leading a world-first trial using a drug to increase the height of people with dwarfism.

The drug, made by US experimental pharmaceutical company Biomarin, has proved successful in animal models, and will be given to eight Victorian children next year as part of an international study.

If successful, the drug would be given by a daily injection to children from the age of four until the end of puberty, when growth plates in bones are almost finished growing.

Around five to eight Victorian babies are born each year with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, with thousands more born around the world every year.

This medication could mean children won't have to have serious surgery, which is a great option for families

The condition has serious health complications for bones, the spinal cord and respiratory system.

Lead researcher Professor Rav Savarirayan from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, said the trial wasn't about "playing God" but about improving the quality of life for people with achondroplasia.

"It's not just about making people taller, some children need a curvature of the spine straightened, others need surgery because there's a big hole where the brain becomes the spinal cord, or their spinal cord is squashed," Prof Savarirayan said.

"This medication could mean children won't have to have serious surgery, which is a great option for families."

More than 80 per cent of babies with the short stature condition have parents of normal height, and develop it as the result of a spontaneous genetic mutation. The gene regulates bone growth, but the mutated version of the gene causes the growth signal to be over-stimulated.

"It's like someone's left the tap on in the garden and everything is flooded," said Prof Savarirayan. "Plants need water to grow, but if you overwater them they don't grow well and you need to turn the tap off."

National president of the Short Statured People of Australia, Meredith Tripp, said she was hesitant about the clinical trial.

"But if this drug can prevent hip replacements, spinal stenosis, breathing complications and ear infections, which are all part of the package, it will be fantastic."

brigid.oconnell@news.com.au

Originally published as Drug help for dwarfism