HIV-associated lipodystrophy

The one condition tesamorelin was built for, and why

Tesamorelin has a narrow but real home: HIV-associated lipodystrophy, a fat-redistribution syndrome that left patients with excess abdominal fat and metabolic consequences. The closest pharmacologic answer of the time, recombinant growth hormone, never won an FDA indication for it.

This unit covers what lipodystrophy is, the pathobiology behind it, why tesamorelin rather than recombinant GH answered the need, which fat depot it targets, and how the modern integrase-inhibitor era has reshaped the population.