CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin
Published research and evidence base
No peer-reviewed clinical trial administering CJC-1295 together with ipamorelin was identified; a PubMed query intersecting both peptide names returned only narrative reviews, doping-control analytical methods and product-quality analyses, with no interventional study of the pair. The available evidence is therefore component-level, comprising randomised human studies of CJC-1295 (a long-acting GHRH analogue) and of ipamorelin (a selective GHS-R1a agonist) evaluated separately, together with an older body of human work on co-administration of GHRH with growth hormone-releasing peptides or ghrelin, which established that the two receptor pathways interact more than additively. Recent 2024-2026 literature addressed this combination almost exclusively as an unapproved, compounded product used outside regulated medicine, and characterised its clinical evidence base as absent rather than negative.
- Studies cited
- 15
- Published 2023+
- 5
- Newest paper
- 2026
- Last reviewed
- Aug 2026
Recurring themes in the literature
- GHRH plus GHRP synergy
- GHS-R1a agonism and selective GH release
- Component-level rather than combination-level evidence
- Compounded and unapproved peptide products
- Anti-doping detection of GHRH analogues and secretagogues
- GH stimulation testing and the GH-IGF-1 axis
15 published studies.
Ordered by strength of study design, then by recency. Every entry links to its source record so the finding can be checked against the paper rather than taken on our word.
- 01Human clinical2026
Real-world diagnostic performance of the macimorelin stimulation test in the diagnosis of adult growth hormone deficiency.
Yadav P, Hamrahian AH, Salvatori R · Pituitary · Real-world clinical cohort undergoing GH stimulation testing
Macimorelin, an orally active GHS-R1a agonist, was evaluated as a diagnostic GH stimulation test in routine clinical practice. The study represents the current regulated clinical use of ghrelin-receptor agonism, which is diagnostic provocation of GH release rather than chronic therapeutic administration.
- 02Human clinical2014
Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the Ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients.
Beck DE, et al. · Int J Colorectal Dis · Phase II randomised controlled trial in bowel resection patients
Ipamorelin was evaluated in a randomised controlled surgical population for postoperative ileus, an indication driven by ghrelin-receptor effects on gastrointestinal motility rather than by GH release. It represents the only identified controlled clinical trial of ipamorelin in a patient population, and the endpoints were gastrointestinal rather than body-composition or GH-axis outcomes.
- 03Human clinical2006
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.
Teichman SL, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Healthy adults, randomised placebo-controlled ascending-dose study
Single and repeated subcutaneous doses of CJC-1295, a GHRH analogue bearing a drug-affinity complex for albumin binding, produced sustained elevations of GH and IGF-I over several days. This trial is the principal human dataset for the CJC-1295 component and used the DAC-modified form rather than the unmodified GHRH fragment commonly sold under the same name.
- 04Human clinical2006
Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog.
Ionescu M, Frohman LA · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Healthy adults, frequent-sampling clinical trial
Continuous GHRH-receptor stimulation by CJC-1295 raised mean GH and IGF-I concentrations while pulsatile GH secretion was preserved, with the increase attributed mainly to greater pulse amplitude rather than loss of pulse architecture.
- 05Human clinical2001
A low dose of ghrelin stimulates growth hormone (GH) release synergistically with GH-releasing hormone in humans.
Hataya Y, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Healthy human subjects, crossover infusion study
A low dose of ghrelin, the endogenous GHS-R1a ligand, combined with GHRH produced a GH response substantially greater than either peptide alone, extending the GHRP synergy findings to the natural receptor ligand and to sub-maximal dosing.
- 06Human clinical2001
Endocrine activities of ghrelin, a natural growth hormone secretagogue (GHS), in humans: comparison and interactions with hexarelin, a nonnatural peptidyl GHS, and GH-releasing hormone.
Arvat E, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Healthy volunteers, randomised comparative study
Ghrelin released GH more potently than hexarelin, and its combination with GHRH was synergistic, whereas ghrelin combined with hexarelin was not additive, consistent with both acting at the same receptor. The study also documented concurrent ACTH, cortisol and prolactin release with ghrelin and hexarelin, effects not shared by GHRH.
- 07Human clinical1999
Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers.
Gobburu JV, et al. · Pharm Res · Randomised study in healthy human volunteers
Intravenous ipamorelin in healthy volunteers was described by a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model linking plasma exposure to GH release, with evidence of tolerance in the GH response on repeated stimulation. This is among the few human pharmacology datasets for ipamorelin as a single agent.
- 08Human clinical1995
Blocked growth hormone-releasing peptide (GHRP-6)-induced GH secretion and absence of the synergic action of GHRP-6 plus GH-releasing hormone in patients with hypothalamopituitary disconnection: evidence that GHRP-6 main action is exerted at the hypothalamic level.
Popovic V, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disconnection versus controls
In patients whose hypothalamic-pituitary connection was interrupted, GHRP-6 failed to release GH and the synergistic response to GHRP-6 combined with GHRH was absent, indicating that the secretagogue arm of the synergy depended on intact hypothalamic input rather than on a purely pituitary mechanism.
- 09Human clinical1990
Growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide stimulates GH release in normal men and acts synergistically with GH-releasing hormone.
Bowers CY, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab · Healthy adult men, controlled clinical trial
A growth hormone-releasing peptide administered to normal men stimulated GH release, and its combination with GH-releasing hormone produced a GH response greater than the sum of the individual responses. This report is the foundational human demonstration of the GHRH-plus-secretagogue synergy that is invoked, by analogy only, for GHRH-analogue plus GHS-R1a-agonist pairings.
- 10Animal in vivo2024
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.
Lu Z, et al. · Physiol Behav · Ferret model of cisplatin-induced weight loss and emesis
Ipamorelin and anamorelin, both GHS-R1a agonists, attenuated cisplatin-induced weight loss in ferrets, while only anamorelin showed centrally mediated anti-emetic activity. The study is recent component-level in vivo pharmacology for ipamorelin and did not involve any GHRH analogue.
- 11Animal in vivo1998
Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue.
Raun K, et al. · Eur J Endocrinol · Rat and swine models; pituitary cell assays
Ipamorelin was characterised as a pentapeptide secretagogue that released GH with potency comparable to earlier GHRPs while, unlike GHRP-6, not stimulating ACTH or cortisol release at doses well above the GH-releasing threshold. This selectivity profile is the original basis for the compound's description as a selective secretagogue.
- 12In vitro2018
Analysis of new growth promoting black market products.
Krug O, et al. · Growth Horm IGF Res · Confiscated and illicitly marketed GH-axis preparations
Mass-spectrometric characterisation of illicitly distributed growth-promoting preparations found discrepancies between declared and actual content, including incorrect peptide identity, unexpected analogues and variable amounts. The findings bear directly on unregulated GHRH-analogue and secretagogue vials, for which label content cannot be assumed to reflect composition.
- 13Review2026
The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration.
Dominikowski A, et al. · Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) · Narrative review of GH-IGF-1 axis peptides
The review surveyed GH-axis peptides including CJC-1295 and ipamorelin as agents obtained and self-administered outside regulated prescribing, and contrasted the volume of consumer use with the limited controlled clinical evidence available for these compounds.
- 14Review2026
Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance.
Mendias CL, Awan TM · Sports Med · Review of approved and unapproved peptide therapies
The review separated peptides with regulatory approval from those marketed without it, placing GH-secretagogue and GHRH-analogue products in the latter category and noting the absence of adequately powered controlled trials supporting musculoskeletal or performance claims.
- 15Review2026
Injectable Peptides in Sports Medicine: A Structured Narrative Review of Evidence, Safety, and Antidoping Implications.
Villegas Meza AD, et al. · JBJS Rev · Structured narrative review of injectable peptides
The review assessed injectable peptides used in sports settings, including GH-axis secretagogues, and addressed evidence quality, safety reporting and anti-doping status. Both CJC-1295 and ipamorelin fall under prohibited-substance categories in sport as GH-releasing agents.
What this evidence does not establish.
No controlled trial administering CJC-1295 together with ipamorelin was identified in the indexed literature, so the specific combination remains untested for efficacy, safety, dose-response and long-term endocrine consequences in humans. Additional gaps include the frequent substitution of unmodified CJC-1295 for the DAC-modified analogue actually studied by Teichman and colleagues, the absence of long-term IGF-I and glucose-metabolism outcome data for either component, and documented content variability in unregulated preparations.
Common questions about the research.
- Why are the two studied together?
They reach growth hormone release through different receptors: CJC-1295 at the GHRH receptor and ipamorelin at the ghrelin receptor GHS-R1a. Human work from 1990 reported that a GH-releasing peptide and GHRH together stimulated GH release synergistically, and combined designs have been standard comparators in this literature ever since.
- Has the CJC-1295 and ipamorelin combination been tested in a clinical trial?
No peer-reviewed clinical trial administering CJC-1295 together with ipamorelin was identified. A PubMed query intersecting both peptide names returned only narrative reviews, doping-control analytical methods and product-quality analyses, with no interventional study of the pair. The combination therefore remains untested for efficacy, safety, dose-response and long-term endocrine consequences in humans, and recent reviews characterise its clinical evidence base as absent rather than negative.
- Is the CJC-1295 studied in human trials the same molecule as the one usually combined with ipamorelin?
Often not. The principal human trial, published in 2006, used the analogue bearing a drug-affinity complex for albumin binding, which produced sustained elevations of GH and IGF-I over several days in healthy adults. Reviews of this literature record the frequent substitution of unmodified CJC-1295 for the DAC-modified analogue that was actually studied, so the published pharmacokinetics do not describe the unmodified form. Mass-spectrometric analysis of illicitly distributed growth-promoting preparations has separately found discrepancies between declared and actual content.
Available from our catalog
For research purposes only. Not for human consumption, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of any condition. Nothing on this page is medical advice, and no study summarised here should be read as a recommendation.