CJC-1295 (No DAC) + Ipamorelin
This is a blend of two separate research peptides rather than a single molecule, so its evidence base is per-constituent: no published study identified here reports the pair tested together. CJC-1295 without DAC is the 29-residue peptide backbone of CJC-1295 - a tetrasubstituted form of human growth-hormone-releasing factor hGRF(1-29) amide carrying D-Ala2, Gln8, Ala15 and Leu27 - supplied without the C-terminal N-epsilon-3-maleimidopropionamide-lysine that makes the "DAC" version conjugate to the free thiol on Cys34 of circulating albumin; it acts at the GHRH receptor on anterior pituitary somatotrophs. Ipamorelin is a pentapeptide, Aib-His-D-2-Nal-D-Phe-Lys-NH2, developed in the Department of GH Biology at Novo Nordisk A/S and characterised as a GHRP-receptor agonist - the receptor now known as the growth hormone secretagogue receptor GHS-R1a, the receptor for ghrelin. Neither peptide holds marketing approval for physique- or performance-related indications in any jurisdiction. CJC-1295 is a growth-hormone-releasing factor and is therefore a prohibited substance under section S2 of the WADA Prohibited List; a 29-amino-acid C-terminally amidated peptide whose sequence is consistent with CJC-1295 was identified by the Norwegian Doping Control Laboratory in an unknown pharmaceutical preparation submitted in 2009 by Norwegian police and customs authorities.
Information on this page is provided for laboratory research reference. The compound is not a drug, supplement, or medical product, and is not for human or veterinary use, ingestion, or consumption.
No reviewed report has been published for this product family yet. The molecular values opposite are public reference data, not results measured on a CRX sample.
Browse published reports →The two constituents engage the somatotroph through different receptors. The GRF(1-29) backbone is a GHRH-receptor agonist: native GHRH is cleaved within minutes by a plasma dipeptidylaminopeptidase to an N-terminally truncated product, GRH(3-44)-NH2, whose biological activity is less than one thousandth that of the parent, and the D-Ala2 substitution in the CJC-1295 backbone is directed at that cleavage site, with the remaining three substitutions added for chemical stability. Ipamorelin acts instead at GHS-R1a; pharmacological profiling with GHRP and GHRH antagonists in primary rat pituitary cells placed its action at the GHRP-like receptor rather than the GHRH receptor. Simultaneous infusion of GHRH with a GH-releasing peptide evokes marked synergistic stimulation of pulsatile GH secretion in men, which is the stated rationale for pairing agents of these two classes - but that synergy was demonstrated with GHRP-2 in a study of 47 men, not with ipamorelin, and never with this specific combination. What is established is each constituent's receptor pharmacology; what remains proposed is any claim about the blend as a unit.1,2,5,6
Gs-coupled receptor on anterior pituitary somatotrophs; the target of the CJC-1295 GRF(1-29) backbone, whose activation drives GH synthesis and release and downstream hepatic IGF-I production.1,7
The ghrelin receptor and the target of ipamorelin; antagonist profiling in primary rat pituitary cells showed ipamorelin releases GH through this GHRP-like receptor rather than through the GHRH receptor.2
The residue-2 bond whose cleavage inactivates native GHRH; the D-Ala2 substitution shared by CJC-1295 with and without DAC is directed at this liability. The albumin conjugates of hGRF(1-29) showed enhanced in vitro stability against dipeptidylpeptidase-IV.1,5
The free thiol to which the maleimidopropionamide of CJC-1295 with DAC conjugates in vivo, extending plasma residence; the no-DAC constituent lacks this group and therefore lacks this mechanism entirely.1
Growth hormone axis
The human GH and IGF-I data published under the CJC-1295 name come from the albumin-binding DAC form, not the no-DAC constituent in this blend: in two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled ascending-dose trials in healthy adults aged 21 to 61, a single subcutaneous injection produced dose-dependent increases in mean plasma GH of 2- to 10-fold for 6 days or more and in mean plasma IGF-I of 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days, with an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days; after multiple doses mean IGF-I remained above baseline for up to 28 days.8
In healthy men aged 20 to 40 sampled every 20 minutes across a 12-hour overnight window, a single injection of CJC-1295 with DAC given one week earlier raised trough GH 7.5-fold (P < 0.0001), mean GH 46% (P < 0.01) and IGF-I 45% (P < 0.001) against each man's own pre-injection profile, with GH pulse frequency and magnitude unchanged. This was uncontrolled, with no placebo arm.9
In healthy male volunteers given 15-minute intravenous ipamorelin infusions at five ascending dose levels with eight men per level, kinetics were dose-proportional, with a terminal half-life of 2 hours, clearance of 0.078 L/h/kg and steady-state volume of distribution of 0.22 L/kg; a single episode of GH release peaked at 0.67 hours, and half-maximal GH stimulation (SC50) occurred at 214 nmol/L.10
In conscious swine, ipamorelin released GH with potency and efficacy close to GHRP-6 (ED50 2.3 +/- 0.03 versus 3.9 +/- 1.4 nmol/kg; Emax 65 +/- 0.2 versus 74 +/- 7 ng GH/mL plasma), yet unlike GHRP-6 and GHRP-2, which both raised plasma ACTH and cortisol, ipamorelin did not release ACTH or cortisol at levels significantly different from those seen after GHRH stimulation, a selectivity that held at doses more than 200-fold above its own GH ED50.2
Metabolic & weight
In a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 proof-of-concept trial in adults undergoing open or laparoscopic small or large bowel resection (114 of 117 enrolled in the safety and modified intent-to-treat populations), intravenous ipamorelin gave a median time to first tolerated standardised solid meal of 25.3 hours versus 32.6 hours on placebo, not a statistically significant difference (p = 0.15), and no secondary efficacy endpoint separated from placebo either.11
In GH-deficient lit/lit mice and GH-intact (+/lit, +/+) mice treated twice daily for up to nine weeks, ipamorelin raised body weight about 15% by two weeks with no further gain by nine weeks, and increased fat pad weight relative to body weight in both lit/lit and +/lit mice. GH itself moved the other way, reducing relative fat mass in lit/lit mice, which the authors read as a GH-independent adipogenic effect.12
Tissue repair
In 8-month-old female rats given the glucocorticoid methylprednisolone for three months, animals that also received ipamorelin showed a significant increase in maximum tetanic tension of the calf muscles and a four-fold higher periosteal bone formation rate compared with rats given the glucocorticoid alone.13
In 13-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats given continuous subcutaneous ipamorelin by osmotic minipump for 12 weeks, total tibial and vertebral bone mineral content rose versus vehicle, but the gain tracked bone size: total bone mineral content corrected for the increase in body weight, cortical volumetric bone mineral density, and total and vertebral areal bone mineral density were all unchanged.14
What investigators recorded alongside the results above, at the rates their papers state.
Treatment-emergent adverse events of any kind in the phase 2 postoperative-ileus trial of ipamorelin; overall incidence was similar in the two arms and the investigators concluded that ipamorelin twice daily for up to seven days was well tolerated.11
87.5% of the ipamorelin group versus 94.8% of the placebo group
Serious adverse reactions in the two randomised ascending-dose trials of CJC-1295 with DAC in healthy adults; none were reported, and the authors concluded the compound was safe and relatively well tolerated, particularly in the 30 and 60 microgram/kg arms.8
none reported
Adverse effects reported across the class of unregulated GH-IGF-1 axis peptides used for performance enhancement - a class whose agent list in this narrative review explicitly names both CJC-1295 without DAC and ipamorelin: endocrine and metabolic disturbance including prolactin and cortisol elevation, appetite change and dysglycaemia; fluid-retention syndromes; musculoskeletal symptoms (myalgia and arthralgia); and injection-site reactions. The review reports these at class level and does not attribute any of them to a specific agent.4
not quantified; exposure in this population is unregulated and product composition, dose and stacking practices are typically unknown
Absence of human safety data for the blend and for the no-DAC constituent. Neither 2026 narrative review identifies a clinical trial of CJC-1295 without DAC, or of it combined with ipamorelin; one stratifies peptides into evidence tiers running from regulatory-grade randomised trial data down to a complete absence of human studies, and the other concludes that rigorous human safety data for unapproved peptides of this class are scarce with potential for serious harm. This gap is itself the most important safety observation about the combination.4,15
not applicable - no human trial of the combination is identified
- 1.Human growth hormone-releasing factor (hGRF)1-29-albumin bioconjugates activate the GRF receptor on the anterior pituitary in rats: identification of CJC-1295 as a long-lasting GRF analog. · Endocrinology · 2005 · PMID 15817669
- 2.Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue. · Eur J Endocrinol · 1998 · PMID 9849822
- 3.Identification of CJC-1295, a growth-hormone-releasing peptide, in an unknown pharmaceutical preparation. · Drug Test Anal · 2010 · PMID 21204297
- 4.The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration. · Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) · 2026 · PMID 42395176
- 5.Rapid enzymatic degradation of growth hormone-releasing hormone by plasma in vitro and in vivo to a biologically inactive product cleaved at the NH2 terminus. · J Clin Invest · 1986 · PMID 3093533
- 6.Determinants of GH-releasing hormone and GH-releasing peptide synergy in men. · Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab · 2009 · PMID 19240251
- 7.Once-daily administration of CJC-1295, a long-acting growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog, normalizes growth in the GHRH knockout mouse. · Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab · 2006 · PMID 16822960
- 8.Prolonged stimulation of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I secretion by CJC-1295, a long-acting analog of GH-releasing hormone, in healthy adults. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · 2006 · PMID 16352683
- 9.Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · 2006 · PMID 17018654
- 10.Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers. · Pharm Res · 1999 · PMID 10496658
- 11.Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the Ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients. · Int J Colorectal Dis · 2014 · PMID 25331030
- 12.Growth hormone (GH)-independent stimulation of adiposity by GH secretagogues. · Biochem Biophys Res Commun · 2001 · PMID 11162489
- 13.The growth hormone secretagogue ipamorelin counteracts glucocorticoid-induced decrease in bone formation of adult rats. · Growth Horm IGF Res · 2001 · PMID 11735244
- 14.The GH secretagogues ipamorelin and GH-releasing peptide-6 increase bone mineral content in adult female rats. · J Endocrinol · 2000 · PMID 10828840
- 15.Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance. · Sports Med · 2026 · PMID 41966639
- 16.The growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a agonists, anamorelin and ipamorelin, inhibit cisplatin-induced weight loss in ferrets: Anamorelin also exhibits anti-emetic effects via a central mechanism. · Physiol Behav · 2024 · PMID 39043357