Research peptides

CJC-1295 vs Sermorelin: One Sequence, Two Histories

Both are built on the first 29 amino acids of GHRH. One was approved for children and later withdrawn by its sponsor; the other never got past Phase 2.

Written bySebastian Hunter, Founder and EditorI'm a 42-year-old senior advisor and distance runner who came to peptides as a sceptic. I'm not a doctor: I read the research, run my own experiment and keep honest notes. Read full bio

Published September 23, 2026Updated October 3, 2026

The short version

CJC-1295 and sermorelin both start from the same 29-amino-acid piece of growth hormone-releasing hormone, and both prompt the pituitary to release its own growth hormone. Sermorelin was an FDA-approved medicine for children until its maker stopped selling it. CJC-1295 was never approved for anything. Their evidence is thin in different ways, and neither has been tested for what it is sold to adults for.

Same starting sequence: sermorelin is GHRH(1-29); CJC-1295 without DAC is that sequence with four substitutions.
Sermorelin had two FDA approvals, both withdrawn in 2009 at the sponsor's request, and not for safety or effectiveness.
CJC-1295 reached Phase 2, was discontinued, and has never been approved anywhere.
Neither has a trial in healthy adults for body composition, sleep or aging.
Both are prohibited in sport at all times under WADA S2.2.4.

CJC-1295 and sermorelin are sold as two options on the same menu, but chemically they are close relatives. Both are built on the first 29 amino acids of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). Both act on the pituitary to release the body’s own growth hormone.

The difference is what happened next. Sermorelin went through a development programme, was approved for children, and was later withdrawn by its sponsor for reasons FDA says were not safety or effectiveness. CJC-1295 stopped at Phase 2 and was never approved anywhere.

Side by side

	Sermorelin	CJC-1295
What it is	GHRH(1-29)NH2: the first 29 amino acids of natural GHRH	Two molecules under one name. Without DAC: GHRH(1-29) with four substitutions. With DAC: the same, plus an albumin-binding group
How it acts	On the pituitary, prompting release of endogenous growth hormone	The same GHRH-receptor mechanism. The DAC form is designed to keep the signal going for days
Human evidence	Controlled trials in children with growth hormone deficiency	One human pharmacokinetic study of the DAC form in healthy adults; hormone measures, not clinical outcomes
Tested in healthy adults for marketed uses?	No trial located	No trial located
Human half-life	Not established for the marketed adult use	DAC form: an estimated 5.8 to 8.1 days (pending citation). Without DAC: no human study located
FDA history	Approved 1990 and 1997. Discontinued 2008. Approvals withdrawn 2009, not for safety or effectiveness	Reached Phase 2, discontinued. Never approved
Evidence level on this site	Limited	Limited
WADA 2026	S2.2.4, prohibited at all times	S2.2.4, prohibited at all times

Full pages: Sermorelin · CJC-1295

The shared sequence

Natural GHRH is 44 amino acids long. Sermorelin is residues 1 to 29 of it, amidated. A 1999 review describes it as a 29 amino acid analogue of human GHRH that specifically stimulates growth hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary.

Prakash 1999

CJC-1295 without DAC, sold as “modified GRF 1-29”, is the same 29-residue backbone with four amino acids swapped to resist breakdown by the DPP-4 enzyme. In effect, it is a modified sermorelin. CJC-1295 with DAC adds a Drug Affinity Complex at the end of the chain. This binds circulating albumin and keeps the peptide in the blood for days.

Sermorelin’s evidence: real, and in children

The controlled evidence for sermorelin is in paediatric growth hormone deficiency, which is what it was approved for. The 1999 review made three findings: Prakash 1999 - Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs. 1999;12(2):139-57., in the references below

Limited data support once-daily treatment in some prepubertal children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency.
Its effect on final adult height was yet to be determined.
Height-velocity gains were smaller than with growth hormone itself.

A six-month comparative trial in 43 prepubertal children with hypothalamic growth hormone deficiency found the lower sermorelin dose produced the lowest height velocity. The higher dose was comparable to growth hormone.

Neyzi 1993

The nearest adult data I located is a retrospective review of medical records. Of 105 men on testosterone therapy prescribed a combination of GHRP-6, GHRP-2 and sermorelin, 14 met the inclusion criteria, and their IGF-1 levels rose. Sigalos 2017 - Sigalos JT, Pastuszak AW, Allison A et al. Growth Hormone Secretagogue Treatment in Hypogonadal Men Raises Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Levels. Am J Mens Health. 2017;11(6):1752-1757., in the references below That is a hormone marker in 14 men taking three peptides at once, with no control group. It does not isolate sermorelin, and it did not measure body composition.

Limited human data

Small or uncontrolled human studies. Too little to settle the question either way. Controlled trials exist, but in children with growth hormone deficiency, and the review of them hedges the treatment data as limited. Adult data is a retrospective IGF-1 chart review of a three-peptide combination. No trial in healthy adults for the marketed outcomes.

CJC-1295’s evidence: hormone levels, then a stop

CJC-1295 was investigated as a long-acting way to raise growth hormone and IGF-I. A published human pharmacokinetic study of the DAC form in healthy adults reports an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days. That paper is not yet in my source registry, so I cannot link it here and the figure is pending citation. It measured hormone levels, not clinical outcomes.

For the without-DAC form, I could not locate any published human pharmacokinetic study. The “about 30 minutes” figure online traces to vendor sites, so I do not print it.

Development reached Phase 2 and was discontinued. FDA’s compounding safety page lists CJC-1295 among bulk substances nominated but withdrawn. It states that FDA has identified serious adverse events associated with it, including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction, and that available clinical data are limited.

Limited human data

Small or uncontrolled human studies. Too little to settle the question either way. One human PK study of the DAC form in healthy adults, not yet in my source registry. Surrogate hormone endpoints only. No published human PK for the without-DAC form. Development stopped at Phase 2.

Both compounds rate “limited” on this site, but for different reasons. Sermorelin’s evidence is clinical, but in the wrong population for how it is sold now. CJC-1295’s is hormone measurement in the right population, with no clinical outcomes at all.

Side effects

Neither compound has a safety trial in the adults it is marketed to now. What follows is what regulators have flagged, not a controlled comparison.

For sermorelin, the US Anti-Doping Agency names oedema of the arms, legs and face, and joint and nerve pain. These are effects of the growth hormone rise it is meant to cause. It adds that chronic growth hormone excess is associated with hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy and potentially cardiomyopathy, and can contribute to insulin resistance. That is a warning about sustained GH excess as a class effect, drawn from growth hormone physiology generally, not a finding from a sermorelin trial in adults.

For CJC-1295, the FDA’s bulk drug substances safety page states that available clinical data are limited. It lists serious adverse events associated with the compound, including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction.

Regulatory status

Sermorelin

US legal status - FDA-approved · prescription only

Sermorelin was an FDA-approved prescription medicine that is no longer marketed as one. Both GEREF products were moved to the Orange Book's Discontinued Drug Product List after the sponsor discontinued them in 2008. It reaches patients today through compounding pharmacies, and still requires a prescriber.

Approved once, withdrawn by its sponsor, not for safety

GEREF injection 0.05 mg (NDA 19-863) was approved on 28 December 1990 to test whether the pituitary can secrete growth hormone. GEREF injection 0.5 mg and 1.0 mg (NDA 20-443) was approved on 26 September 1997 to treat idiopathic growth hormone deficiency in children with growth failure. EMD Serono discontinued both in 2008, and FDA withdrew approval of both NDAs effective 18 June 2009.

In 2013 FDA determined that neither product was withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness. That determination is in the Federal Register. So sermorelin was not pulled for harm, but it is also not a currently approved product. It reaches patients through compounding pharmacies on prescription, and no approval ever covered the adult uses it is sold for now.

CJC-1295

US legal status - Research use only

Sold for laboratory research use only. Not approved by the FDA for human use, and cannot be lawfully marketed as a supplement or a medicine. Products sold this way are not made to pharmaceutical quality standards, and their contents are not verified by anyone.

AU legal status - Not on the ARTG

Schedule 4 of the Poisons Standard, named with its CAS number, and Appendix D, clause 5 - prescription only, and possession without authority is illegal. Appendix D also captures growth hormone releasing hormones as a class, so both forms are covered whichever one is in the vial. Nothing containing it is on the ARTG.

Regulators reach their own conclusions on their own timelines. Where these two disagree, the difference is the point - not an error.

CJC-1295 is not FDA-approved for any indication. It is sold as a research chemical and is not legally marketed for human use. Nobody verifies which of the two forms is in a vial.

Sport

Both are growth hormone releasing factors under S2.2.4 of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List, prohibited at all times. The US Anti-Doping Agency states that a therapeutic use exemption for sermorelin is highly unlikely to be approved, because it is not a first-line treatment for growth hormone deficiency.

Who should not use either

Competitive athletes subject to anti-doping testing. Both sit under WADA S2.2.4 and are tested for at all times. Per USADA, a sermorelin therapeutic use exemption is highly unlikely to be granted.
Anyone expecting the paediatric evidence to apply to them. Sermorelin’s only randomised controlled trials are in children with diagnosed growth hormone deficiency. No trial supports its use in adults for body composition, sleep or aging.
Anyone weighing CJC-1295. Read FDA’s stated concern first: limited clinical data, and serious adverse events including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction. It is sold as a research chemical, and the identity of any given vial is not independently verified.

What the comparison actually tells you

The two molecules share a backbone and a receptor. Their histories diverged on evidence and regulation, not chemistry. Sermorelin finished a development programme for a paediatric indication, then left the market, and in 2013 FDA found it was not withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons. CJC-1295 was engineered to last longer and never finished one.

Neither history tells you what either does in a healthy adult, because nobody has run that trial.

Common questions

Is CJC-1295 the same as sermorelin?

No, but they are close relatives. Sermorelin is the first 29 amino acids of growth hormone-releasing hormone. CJC-1295 without DAC, also sold as mod GRF 1-29, is that same 29-amino-acid sequence with four substitutions intended to resist enzyme breakdown. CJC-1295 with DAC adds an albumin-binding group that keeps it in the blood for days.

Which one has more evidence?

Sermorelin has controlled trials, but they are in children with growth hormone deficiency, the indication it was approved for. CJC-1295 has a human pharmacokinetic study of the DAC form in healthy adults, measuring hormone levels rather than clinical outcomes, and development stopped at Phase 2. Neither has been tested in healthy adults for the outcomes it is marketed for.

Was sermorelin ever FDA-approved?

Yes. GEREF was approved in 1990 as a diagnostic test and in 1997 for treating idiopathic growth hormone deficiency in children. The sponsor discontinued both products in 2008, FDA withdrew the approvals effective 18 June 2009, and in 2013 FDA determined they were not withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness.

Was CJC-1295 ever approved?

No. CJC-1295 reached Phase 2 clinical trials and was discontinued. It has never been approved by the FDA or, to my knowledge, any other regulator. It is sold as a research chemical that is not legally marketed for human use.

Can athletes use either one?

No. Both are growth hormone releasing factors on the WADA Prohibited List under S2.2.4 and are prohibited at all times, in and out of competition. USADA states that a therapeutic use exemption for sermorelin is highly unlikely to be approved.

What peptide is better than Sermorelin?

None has been shown better in a controlled trial. No study has compared sermorelin against CJC-1295 or any other growth hormone secretagogue for the outcomes either is sold for in adults. "Better" also depends on what is measured. CJC-1295 with DAC stays active in the blood far longer. But sermorelin has the only randomised controlled trials of the two, run in children with growth hormone deficiency. Duration and evidence quality are different measures, not one scale.

What is the strongest peptide?

There is no single measure of "strongest" across peptides, so the question has no one-name answer. Receptor binding, how long a compound stays active and the size of the hormone response it produces are three different numbers. None of them has been compared head-to-head for sermorelin, CJC-1295 or similar growth hormone secretagogues in a controlled adult trial.

Which is safer, Ipamorelin or Sermorelin?

Neither has been tested against the other in a safety trial, so this cannot be answered from controlled data. Ipamorelin's often-cited safety edge is that it does not raise cortisol the way older secretagogues do. That comes from a 1998 study in rats and pigs rather than people, and it was not a comparison with sermorelin. My separate Ipamorelin vs Sermorelin comparison covers both compounds' safety signals in detail.

Is sermorelin bad for the heart?

No controlled trial has measured sermorelin's cardiovascular effects in adults, because none exists at the doses adults are sold. USADA warns that chronic growth hormone excess, the effect sermorelin is meant to produce, is associated with hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy and potentially cardiomyopathy. That is a warning about sustained GH excess in general, not a finding from a sermorelin-specific safety trial.

What peptide works best with Sermorelin?

No combination has been shown to work best with sermorelin in a controlled trial. The nearest adult data comes from a retrospective chart review of men on testosterone therapy. In it, 14 men taking sermorelin together with GHRP-6 and GHRP-2 had rising IGF-1 levels. That study did not compare the combination against sermorelin alone or test any other pairing. No trial has tested or ranked a peptide combination with sermorelin for effectiveness or safety, so no stacking recommendation is sourced.

Does CJC-1295 raise testosterone?

There is no published evidence that it does. CJC-1295 acts on the growth hormone axis, prompting the pituitary to release growth hormone, a different hormonal pathway from testosterone. The only human study located is a pharmacokinetic study of the DAC form in healthy adults. It measured hormone levels rather than clinical outcomes. That paper is not yet in my source registry, so this page cannot confirm what it did or did not measure beyond growth hormone. No published study has established an effect of CJC-1295 on testosterone.

References (9 sources)

Bibliographic detail is fetched from PubMed, not written by me - so a citation here cannot drift from the paper it names. Study design comes from PubMed's own tags rather than my judgement.

1.Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs. 1999;12(2):139-57.StudyPMID 18031173
2.Neyzi O, Yordam N, Ocal G et al. Growth response to growth hormone-releasing hormone(1-29)-NH2 compared with growth hormone. Acta Paediatr Suppl. 1993;388:16-21; discussion 22.Randomised trialPMID 8329826
3.Sigalos JT, Pastuszak AW, Allison A et al. Growth Hormone Secretagogue Treatment in Hypogonadal Men Raises Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Levels. Am J Mens Health. 2017;11(6):1752-1757.StudyPMID 28830317full text
4.Federal Register, 4 March 2013 - Determination that GEREF (sermorelin acetate) injection was not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness (Docket FDA-2012-P-1071). States both NDAs, their approval dates and indications, the 2008 discontinuation letters, and the withdrawal of approval effective 18 June 2009.- US Government Publishing Office (Federal Register)regulatory
5.USADA - Athletes, know sermorelin. States sermorelin is prohibited in sport, that a therapeutic use exemption is highly unlikely, and that both FDA-approved formulations were discontinued in 2008.- US Anti-Doping Agencyregulatory
6.FDA - Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks. CJC-1295 appears under bulk drug substances nominated but withdrawn, with FDA's stated safety concerns.- US Food and Drug Administrationregulatory
7.WADA 2026 Prohibited List, section S2.2.4 - growth hormone releasing factors, naming CJC-1295 and sermorelin (national anti-doping agency mirror, PDF).- World Anti-Doping Agency (mirrored by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission)regulatory
8.Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard - June 2026) Instrument 2026, the current Poisons Standard (SUSMP). CJC-1295 (CAS No. 863288-34-0) is a Schedule 4 (prescription only) entry, and Appendix D, clause 5.- Federal Register of Legislation, Australian Governmentstatute
9.TGA - Unapproved therapeutic goods. Goods not on the ARTG have not been assessed by the TGA for safety, quality or effectiveness.- Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australian Governmentregulatory