Inside STAT: A controversial new treatment promises to make little people taller

AHMIN HAIDER (CENTER) WAS BORN WITH ACHONDROPLASIA, THE MOST COMMON CAUSE OF DWARFISM, AND IS ENROLLED IN A CLINICAL TRIAL OF A TREATMENT THAT MIGHT MAKE HIM TALLER AND PREVENT MEDICAL COMPLICATIONS. (LAURA MORTON FOR STAT)

Is it ethical to make a little person taller? That’s the philosophically fraught question surrounding a new treatment that’s being debated by families, doctors, and a drug company. BioMarin Pharmaceutical has been developing a drug that targets the genetic roots of achondroplasia, the most common cause of dwarfism. The company says that the goal of the drug is to prevent the condition’s medical complications, including hearing loss and skeletal problems, but a study currently underway to measure the drug’s long-term benefits has height as its primary goal. And those with achondroplasia — and many others who support them — don’t see short stature as something to be fixed but rather a difference worth celebrating. STAT’s Damian Garde has more here.