in general however a suitable dose of agent for all of the above described conditions will lie in the range of about 0 01 mg kg to about 30 mg kg and preferably about 0 5 mg kg to about 10 mg kg of mammal body weight being treated the composition is preferably administered parenterally intravenously intradermally intraperitoneally intramuscularly or subcutaneously but may also be administered orally for a period of time sufficient to result in the resection of the exocrine portion of the pancreas the precise period of time will depend in each case of course upon the animal under treatment and the dosage employed by monitoring the pancreatic exocrine function of the animal according to conventional methods during administration of the hydroxy polyamines the time of treatment required can be accurately gauged while it is possible for the agents to be administered as the raw substances it is preferable to present them as a pharmaceutical formulation the formulations of the present invention both for veterinary and human use comprise the agents together with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers therefor and optionally other therapeutic ingredients the carrier s must be u201c acceptable u201d in the sense of being compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation and not deleterious to the recipient thereof desirably the formulations should not include oxidizing agents and other substances with which the agents.