Potential New Drug for Inducing Lactation or Increasing Milk Supply

A preliminary study determined that the administration of recombinant human prolactin (r-hPRL) to non-lactating women triggered the production of breast milk. Noting that other drugs used to augment lactation can have intolerable side effects, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied the use of r-hPRL in a sample of nine women for one week and determined that it warrants further clinical trials for its use as an agent to augment milk production (see Short-term prolactin administration causes expressible galactorrhea but does not affect bone turnover: pilot data for a new lactation agent. International Breastfeeding Journal, July 24, 2007). That short duration of use did not cause bone turnover or disrupt the menstrual cycle. This is promising news for women who have concerns about domperidone and other drugs currently used to induce lactation or increase milk supply.