What does CJC-1295 do?
CJC-1295 makes the pituitary release more growth hormone, the job the body’s own GHRH does, and in the one form tested in people a single injection kept growth hormone raised for 6 days or more.5 That form carries a DAC, a chemical group that binds it to albumin in the blood; the form most CJC-1295 and ipamorelin stacks use doesn’t, and it has no peer-reviewed study in people.1
- What it is
- A modified copy of the first 29 amino acids of GHRH, with four of them swapped to resist the enzymes that break it down.21
- With DAC
- An added lysine at the tail end carries a reactive group that latches onto albumin once injected, which keeps it circulating.2
- Half-life with DAC
- 5.8–8.1 days, in healthy adults.5
- Half-life without DAC
- None published. The evidence review’s entry reads “t½ not reported in human studies”.1
In this guide
It does GHRH's job, for longer
GHRH is the brain’s signal to the pituitary to make growth hormone. The FDA label for EGRIFTA, a drug in the same class, describes it as “a hypothalamic peptide that acts on the pituitary somatotroph cells to stimulate the synthesis and pulsatile release of endogenous growth hormone (GH), which is both anabolic and lipolytic”.3 Growth hormone then raises IGF-1, and the CJC-1295 trials tracked both.
The natural hormone has one problem as a drug, and the human trial behind the DAC form’s half-life names it in its opening line: “Therapeutic use of GHRH to enhance GH secretion is limited by its short duration of action.”5 Sermorelin, the unmodified first 29 amino acids, shows the scale of it: its recorded half-life is 10–20 min.4
CJC-1295 attacks that problem twice. Four swapped amino acids make the chain harder to cut,1 and the DAC anchors it to albumin. In the rat study that named it, the DAC version was still in plasma beyond 72 hours.2
These results led to the identification of CJC-1295 as a stable and active hGRF(1-29) analog with an extended plasma half-life.
- SERSermorelin10–20 min
- CJC-DCJC-1295 + DAC5.8–8.1 days
The form without DAC has no bar: no human study has reported a half-life to draw. What any recorded half-life leaves after a given interval is one line on the half-life calculator.
Explore sermorelin providers
All provider reviewsThese published offers are for sermorelin. They do not quote prices for CJC-1295 (no DAC) or CJC-1295 + DAC.
CoreAge Rx
Read reviewPublished offer · Starting price$99per month
SermorelinSee the review for supply details.
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Embody
Read reviewPublished offer · Recurring rate$99per month after first month
SermorelinSermorelin Injection; follows $49 introductory month
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What the long-acting form did in people
Two placebo-controlled trials gave it to healthy adults aged 21 to 61, as single doses and then as two or three doses a week or two apart.5 One shot moved both hormones for days:
After a single injection of CJC-1295, there were dose-dependent increases in mean plasma GH concentrations by 2- to 10-fold for 6 d or more and in mean plasma IGF-I concentrations by 1.5- to 3-fold for 9-11 d.
Repeated doses stacked: “After multiple CJC-1295 doses, mean IGF-I levels remained above baseline for up to 28 d.” No serious adverse reactions were reported.5
A second group then asked whether a constant signal would flatten the body’s own rhythm, since growth hormone normally arrives in pulses. It didn’t. Measured overnight a week after one injection, in healthy men aged 20 to 40, the pulses kept their size and frequency. What rose was the floor between them: trough levels went up 7.5-fold, lifting average growth hormone 46% and IGF-1 45%.6
GH secretion was increased after CJC-1295 administration with preserved pulsatility.
The reported outcomes were hormones and safety. None measured muscle, fat or strength, and a 2026 review that grades each of these peptides by its evidence sums up the long-acting form as “Phase I PK/PD studies in healthy adults; no controlled efficacy data”.1
The CJC-1295 in most stacks is the untested one
Every CJC-1295 listing on this site’s board is sold paired with ipamorelin, and a 2026 review says which form that pairing usually means: “ipamorelin is also frequently discussed in combination with CJC-1295 (typically the non-DAC form)”.1
To date, no controlled clinical studies have directly evaluated this compound in humans
So what the form without DAC does in people is inferred, not measured. That review traces the claims made for it to extrapolation from related compounds, sermorelin first among them, and to sources outside academic publishing.1
And the listings don’t say which form you’re getting: neither of the two that name CJC-1295 here states it. That gap is the subject of which CJC-1295 are you buying. How long either form takes to show anything is on CJC-1295 and ipamorelin: how long until results, and what those trials and the FDA record about harm is on is CJC-1295 safe.
For a provider-specific example, the Longevixx review records a CJC-1295/ipamorelin listing that does not identify the CJC-1295 form. Its starting figure cannot answer which molecule you would receive; that needs confirmation from the prescribing service.
Questions that come next
Is CJC-1295 the same as sermorelin?
No. Both start from the first 29 amino acids of GHRH. Sermorelin leaves them as they are;4 CJC-1295 swaps four of them, and the DAC form adds the albumin anchor.2 The two are set side by side on CJC-1295 vs sermorelin.
Does CJC-1295 build muscle?
No published study in people has measured it. The human trials measured growth hormone and IGF-1, in the DAC form only.1 For a GHRH analog that does have lean-mass results from placebo-controlled trials, see what tesamorelin’s trials found.
Why is it paired with ipamorelin?
Ipamorelin pushes on a different receptor, the ghrelin receptor, so the idea is two signals at once. The review that describes the habit says “this practice is largely driven by anecdotal rationale, and controlled clinical evidence supporting synergy or meaningful body-composition outcomes in healthy individuals remains limited”.1 The two receptors are compared on GHRH analogs vs ghrelin mimetics.
What is its regulatory status?
The status of all five molecules on this site, each with the document behind it, is on which of these is FDA approved.
Sources
6 documents, in the order the figures above use them. The date on each is the one printed on the document.
- Dominikowski A, Rękoś Z, Olejarz M, Szczepanek-Parulska E, Domin R, Ruchała M. The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration.Document date: 2026-06-18. PMID 42395176, PMC13322892, doi:10.3389/fendo.2026.1822475.
- Jetté L, Léger R, Thibaudeau K, Benquet C, Robitaille M, Pellerin I, Paradis V, van Wyk P, Pham K, Bridon DP. 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.Document date: 2005-07. PMID 15817669, doi:10.1210/en.2004-1286.
- Theratechnologies Inc., prescribing information approved by the Food and Drug Administration. EGRIFTA SV (tesamorelin) for injection, for subcutaneous use — full prescribing information.Document date: label face date: Revised 03/2024; label version published 2026-07-31. SPL set id 3d783378-b02d-4f19-99dd-0fc91a042224, Initial U.S. Approval 2010.
- Esposito P, Barbero L, Caccia P, Caliceti P, D'Antonio M, Piquet G, Veronese FM. PEGylation of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GRF) analogues.Document date: 2003-09-26. PMID 14499707, doi:10.1016/s0169-409x(03)00109-1.
- Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. 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.Document date: 2006-03. PMID 16352683, doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536.
- Ionescu M, Frohman LA. Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog.Document date: 2006-12. PMID 17018654, doi:10.1210/jc.2006-1702.