Acromegaly is usually caused by a GH-secreting pituitary adenoma, resulting in high circulating GH and IGF-I concentrations. Standard therapy is surgery. For patients who are not candidates for surgery, there are two licensed somatostatin analogues, lanreotide and octreotide. Symptoms of acromegaly can be controlled effectively in around 70% of patients with these drugs. However, this still leaves 30% of patients without adequate control of GH and IGF-1. Pasireotide is a new somatostatin analogue with a broad spectrum of receptor binding activity. Two planned Phase III studies exploring the efficacy and safety of pasireotide LAR in acromegaly versus octreotide and in patients with acromegaly inadequately controlled with currently available somatostatin analogues, will be presented at this year's ENEA in Liege, Belgium.