CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin: The Record Behind Each Half

The combination sold as "CJC-1295/ipamorelin" has never been tested in a human trial. Each half has a short record of its own: CJC-1295 raised growth hormone and IGF-1 in two small studies of healthy adults in 2006, and ipamorelin's only published randomized trial, in bowel surgery, missed its efficacy endpoint. Neither can be lawfully compounded in the US as of September 2026.

Two different ways to push growth hormone

The two molecules work on different receptors, which is the whole sales logic for pairing them.

CJC-1295 is a growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog. It is built on the first 29 amino acids of human GHRH, the part that carries the activity, with four substitutions and a reactive group added to its end¹. It acts where the body's own GHRH acts, telling the pituitary to release growth hormone.

Ipamorelin is a ghrelin mimetic, a five-amino-acid peptide that stimulates growth hormone through the receptor used by the growth hormone-releasing peptides. Novo Nordisk scientists described it in 1998 as "the first selective growth hormone secretagogue"². In rats and swine it released growth hormone about as potently as GHRP-6. Unlike GHRP-6 and GHRP-2, it did not raise ACTH or cortisol, even at doses more than 200 times its effective dose². That selectivity was shown in animals.

The pitch is that one signal sets the pulse and the other amplifies it. That is a reasonable hypothesis from physiology. It is not a finding, because nobody has run the experiment in people.

CJC-1295 with and without DAC

Sellers offer two products under this name, and only one of them is CJC-1295.

The molecule that ConjuChem developed and named CJC-1295 is the version with the reactive group, a maleimidopropionamide on a lysine at the end of the chain. That group binds the peptide to albumin in the blood, which stretches its life from minutes to days. In rats it was still in plasma beyond 72 hours¹. This is the product sold as "with DAC". In healthy adults its half-life was estimated at 5.8 to 8.1 days³.

"CJC-1295 without DAC", also sold as "mod GRF 1-29", is the same modified 29-amino-acid chain without the albumin-binding group. It is a different molecule with a much shorter life in the body, and the human studies below were not done on it. A PubMed search for "mod GRF", "modified GRF", "tetrasubstituted GRF" or "CJC-1295 without DAC" returns no human trial of it in September 2026.

The human record for CJC-1295

Two published studies, both in healthy volunteers, both from 2006.

The first study established what the molecule does to the hormones: a single dose raised growth hormone for days and IGF-1 for over a week, with a cumulative effect after repeated doses³. The second found that growth hormone kept its pulsing pattern and that the rise came mostly from higher baseline levels between pulses⁴.

The only patient trial registered for it, in people with HIV-associated abdominal fat, was run by ConjuChem and ended as "terminated" in 2006⁵. The record gives no reason, has no posted results, and a PubMed search for its registry number returns nothing. No trial in any patient group has reported an outcome for CJC-1295, whether body composition, strength, sleep or recovery.

FDA's own summary adds a safety line. In the section of its Category 2 page for nominations that were withdrawn, the agency states that it "has identified serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295 including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction. Available clinical data are limited"⁶.

The human record for ipamorelin

Ipamorelin reached further into development than CJC-1295, but for a different purpose. Helsinn tested it as an intravenous treatment for postoperative ileus, the stalled gut after abdominal surgery. It was never tested in people as a body-composition or anti-aging drug.

The pharmacology study found a short half-life of about 2 hours and a single burst of growth hormone after each infusion⁷. The surgery trial reported that ipamorelin "was well tolerated," with treatment-emergent adverse events in 87.5% of the ipamorelin group and 94.8% of the placebo group, and "no significant differences between ipamorelin and placebo in the key and secondary efficacy analyses"⁸. A second, larger surgery trial of 320 patients finished in 2014. Its registry record has no posted results, and a PubMed search for its number returns nothing⁹.

A registry search for "ipamorelin" also returns an observational study of combat veterans with PTSD, in which the word appears inside a supplementation arm. It is not a trial of ipamorelin.

FDA's text on ipamorelin cites a published study that "identified serious adverse events including death when ipamorelin was administered intravenously for improving gastric motility." It adds that FDA has not identified safety information for "certain other injectable routes"⁶. The subcutaneous injection sellers promote is one of those routes.

The combination record: zero

We ran the pair through both registries in September 2026. ClinicalTrials.gov returns no study for "CJC-1295 AND ipamorelin", against 789 for semaglutide as a control. PubMed returns 10 records that mention both. Nine are 2026 review articles and one is a horse doping assay. None tested the two together in a person.

Every dose, cycle and expected result attached to the stack therefore comes from somewhere other than a trial: extrapolation from the separate records above, clinic protocols, or forums. The same pattern holds for the tesamorelin and ipamorelin blend. Our growth hormone secretagogue review covers what the wider class has shown.

Where each half stands with FDA

The two halves are in different places, and neither is in a place that allows compounding.

CJC-1295 is in the withdrawn section of FDA's Category 2 page⁶. It is not on the 503A bulks list and not in Category 1, so no pharmacy route exists for it¹⁰. It was not among the peptides FDA's advisory committee discussed in July 2026.

Ipamorelin acetate is still in active Category 2 for 503B outsourcing facilities, added September 29, 2023. It is also listed in the withdrawn section, with FDA's note that it "also appears in the table above because it is in category 2 under the 503B interim policy"⁶. A compounding clinic offering either one is working outside both routes. The full table is in compounding status by peptide.

The lawful GHRH analog

If the goal is a GHRH-pathway product obtained through a pharmacy, the one with a route is sermorelin. It is the same first 29 amino acids of GHRH without CJC-1295's modifications. It was approved as Geref, and in 2013 FDA published a determination that Geref was not withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness¹¹. It is compounded under 503A today.

That does not make sermorelin's record large. Its adult studies are small too, and the trials of GHRH for aging are thin. But it is the only one of the three with a legal pathway and a published record in adults. The sermorelin page and sermorelin before and after set out what those studies measured, and sermorelin vs tesamorelin compares it with the approved GHRH analog.