# Thyrotropin alfa

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/thyrotropin-alfa/  
OnCo record `thyrotropin-alfa` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Thyrogen is an injected version of thyroid-stimulating hormone that lets people with thyroid cancer have radioiodine treatment and follow-up blood tests without stopping their thyroid hormone tablets and suffering weeks of hypothyroidism.

## Summary

Thyrotropin alfa was approved by the FDA in November 1998 as an adjunctive diagnostic tool for serum thyroglobulin testing with or without radioiodine imaging in the follow-up of well-differentiated thyroid cancer, and in 2007 for pre-therapeutic stimulation before radioiodine remnant ablation after thyroidectomy in patients without distant metastases; the EU authorised Thyrogen in 2000 with the same uses. The HiLo and ESTIMABL trials showed that rhTSH-stimulated low-dose (1.1 GBq) radioiodine ablation is as effective as high-dose ablation after thyroid hormone withdrawal, sparing patients hypothyroid symptoms and reducing radiation exposure. Nausea and headache are the main adverse effects; transient tumour swelling can occur with CNS or spinal metastases. Marketed by Sanofi (Genzyme).

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Also known as: Recombinant human TSH; rhTSH
- Tags: ema-list; supportive
- Brand: Thyrogen
- Modality: Recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone
- Mechanism: Recombinant TSH stimulates iodine uptake and thyroglobulin release from thyroid remnants and differentiated thyroid cancer cells, allowing radioiodine ablation and thyroglobulin testing without stopping levothyroxine.
- Approvals: US 1998: Adjunctive diagnostic tool for thyroglobulin testing in well-differentiated thyroid cancer; pre-therapeutic stimulation for radioiodine remnant ablation added 2007; EU 2000: Thyroglobulin testing and radioiodine imaging in thyroid cancer follow-up; pre-therapeutic stimulation for radioiodine ablation

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyrotropin_alfa
- EPAR (EMA): https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/thyrogen
- US label (DailyMed): https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?labeltype=all&query=thyrotropin%20alfa

## Connected records

- cancers: [Thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/thyroid/)
- technologies: [Radioiodine therapy and whole-body iodine scanning](https://onco.cc/technologies/radioiodine-therapy/)
- companies: [Sanofi](https://onco.cc/companies/sanofi/)
- terms: [Radioiodine therapy (I-131)](https://onco.cc/terms/radioiodine-term/)
- trials: [A New Study to Follow-up Thyroid Cancer Patients Who Participated in a Previous Study, Which Compared the Success of Destruction of the Thyroid Remnant Using Standard Treatment or Thyrogen](https://onco.cc/trials/nct00295763/), [Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of rhTSH as An Adjunctive Diagnostic Tool in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patients Who Had Been Thyroidectomized Vs. Patients Who After Thyroid Hormone Withdrawal](https://onco.cc/trials/nct04971473/), [rhTSH for Radioactive Iodine Remnant Ablation in Participants With Differentiated Thyroid Cancer (DTC)](https://onco.cc/trials/nct04964284/)
- targets: [TSH receptor (TSHR)](https://onco.cc/targets/tshr/)

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