CJC-1295: What the Evidence Says About This GHRH Analog

What it is

Your brain sends a hormone called GHRH to the pituitary gland, and the pituitary answers by releasing growth hormone. Natural GHRH only survives in the blood for five to seven minutes, which makes it useless as a drug. CJC-1295 is a lab-made version of the same signal, rebuilt to last.

A Canadian company, ConjuChem, designed it in the early 2000s. The “CJC” is their initials. Two versions exist, and they behave so differently that it helps to think of them as separate compounds.

CJC-1295 with DAC. DAC stands for Drug Affinity Complex. It is a chemical hook that lets the peptide grab onto albumin, the most common protein in blood. Once attached, it rides around the body for six to eight days, nudging the pituitary the whole time. This is the version that was tested in people.

CJC-1295 without DAC, also sold as Mod GRF 1-29. This is a 29-amino-acid piece of GHRH with four swaps that make it harder for enzymes to chew up. It lasts about 30 minutes, long enough to trigger one pulse of growth hormone and then clear. It has never been through a human trial under either name.

The difference matters for everything that follows: how often it is injected, whether growth hormone rises in pulses or sits elevated all week, and what the side effects look like.

What it is studied for

The trial work aimed at one thing: raising growth hormone and IGF-1 in adults, as a possible treatment for conditions where growth hormone runs low. Body composition (more lean mass, less belly fat) was measured along the way. The broader interest, replacing the growth hormone decline that comes with age, was the commercial hope and has never been tested in a trial.

What the evidence actually shows

In humans

There is one meaningful human study. In 2006, researchers gave a single injection of CJC-1295 with DAC to healthy adults, 33 in total, at three dose levels. Growth hormone rose two- to ten-fold and stayed up for six days or more. IGF-1, the hormone the liver makes in response to growth hormone, rose one-and-a-half to three-fold and stayed up for nine to eleven days. Higher doses produced bigger rises.

A second group got weekly injections for four weeks. IGF-1 stayed elevated the whole time, and the pituitary did not stop responding, which is a real concern with hormone stimulators. No serious side effects were reported (Teichman et al., 2006).

In the multi-dose work the company also reported more lean mass, less deep belly fat, and better nitrogen balance, all of which are what you would expect from more growth hormone. Those are supporting observations from a short study, not proven outcomes.

That is the whole human record: 33 people, a few weeks, one company. It shows the drug does what it was built to do. It says nothing about years of use.

The death that ended development

In 2006 a participant in a CJC-1295 trial died of a heart problem. ConjuChem halted its program. Whether the drug caused the death was never settled in public, and no one picked the compound back up. That is why a drug with a working human trial is sold as a research chemical instead of a prescription.

In animals

In mice bred without GHRH, daily CJC-1295 with DAC restored normal growth, confirming the mechanism works in a living body and not just in a dish. Older studies of the parent fragment, GRF 1-29, show that one injection produces a growth hormone pulse lasting one to two hours, and that pairing it with a ghrelin-type peptide such as GHRP-6 makes the pulse much bigger than either alone. That pairing effect is the reason people combine Mod GRF 1-29 with ipamorelin.

From user reports

Almost everything written about Mod GRF 1-29 comes from users, because no one has studied it. People describe better sleep, especially with a bedtime dose, and gradual changes in body composition over eight to twelve weeks. The common complaints are flushing after the DAC version, water retention, tiredness, and headaches. None of this has been measured in a study.

How it works

CJC-1295 lands on the same receptor as natural GHRH, on the cells in the pituitary that make growth hormone, and sets off the same chain of signals that ends in growth hormone being released.

Two things shape how much comes out. The first is somatostatin, the brake hormone that stops growth hormone release. GHRH-type peptides cannot override it, so they work best when the brake is off, which is during sleep and when fasting. The second is ghrelin-type peptides (ipamorelin, GHRP-2, GHRP-6), which work on a different receptor and partly release that brake. Stacking the two is the pharmacological basis for the combinations people use.

The DAC version keeps the receptor stimulated for days, so growth hormone runs at a raised baseline rather than in the pulses the body normally produces. Whether that matters for long-term effects is an open question. The no-DAC version produces a pulse and clears, which looks more like the body’s own pattern, at the cost of two or three injections a day.

How it is used in studies

The 2006 trial used single injections of 30, 60, or 90 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, and in the multi-dose phase, weekly injections of 30 or 60 micrograms per kilogram for four weeks. That is the only dosing with any data behind it.

Users report 1 to 2 mg of the DAC version once a week, or 100 to 200 micrograms of Mod GRF 1-29 two to three times a day, most often fasted and at bedtime, in cycles of eight to twelve weeks. The most discussed combination is 100 micrograms of Mod GRF 1-29 with 200 to 300 micrograms of ipamorelin in the same syringe. These are user practices, not studied doses. For handling, see the storage and reconstitution guide.

Side effects and unknowns

In the one trial, the DAC version caused no serious problems over a few weeks. Users report flushing that spreads from the injection site for 15 to 30 minutes, water retention, drowsiness, headaches, and, at higher doses, tingling or numbness in the hands, which is a known growth hormone effect.

Three unknowns stand out.

Growth hormone opposes insulin. Raising it for weeks can push blood sugar up, and the DAC version raises it continuously. Anyone using it under medical supervision is usually checked for IGF-1, fasting glucose, HbA1c, and blood pressure.

The DAC version cannot be switched off. If something goes wrong, the drug keeps working for a week or two after the last injection.

Nobody knows what months or years of stimulating the pituitary this way do. The trial lasted four weeks. Growth hormone and IGF-1 also affect cell growth, which is why anyone with a history of cancer should stay away from anything in this class. See our peptide safety guide.

The pituitary’s ability to respond falls with age, so older adults are likely to see smaller rises than the healthy volunteers in the trial did.

How it compares to related peptides

• Sermorelin is the same idea with a shorter life, about 10 to 20 minutes, and it has a history of FDA approval and far more human safety data. It is the conservative choice in this class.
• Tesamorelin is the only GHRH analog currently approved by the FDA, for belly fat in people with HIV, and it has the strongest clinical data of the group.
• MK-677 is an oral pill that works through the ghrelin receptor instead of the GHRH receptor and raises growth hormone around the clock.
• Ipamorelin, GHRP-2, and GHRP-6 are ghrelin-type peptides that people stack with CJC-1295. See the muscle growth guide.

Legal status

In the United States, CJC-1295 is not FDA approved for any use. It is sold as a research chemical, and some clinics have prescribed compounded versions, a practice the FDA has warned against. In Australia it is prescription-only under Schedule 4. WADA bans it in and out of competition under section S2, and anti-doping tests can detect it. Standard workplace drug panels do not look for it.

Bottom line

CJC-1295 with DAC is one of the few research peptides with a human trial showing it does what it claims: growth hormone and IGF-1 go up and stay up for over a week. That trial was 33 people over a few weeks, and a death in the same era ended the drug’s development. Mod GRF 1-29, the version most people actually use, has no human trial at all. If you want a GHRH-type peptide with a real safety record, sermorelin and tesamorelin have one; CJC-1295 does not.

See also

• Peptide
  GHRP-2: What the Research Shows About This Second-Generation GH Secretagogue

  GHRP-2 is a six-amino-acid peptide that copies ghrelin, the hunger hormone, to make the pituitary release a pulse of growth hormone. Japan approved it as a one-dose diagnostic test; no one has trialed it as a treatment.

• Peptide
  GHRP-6: What the Research Shows About This Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide

  GHRP-6 is the six-amino-acid peptide that led to the discovery of the ghrelin receptor. It reliably releases growth hormone in people and makes them very hungry. No trial has tested it for muscle or recovery.

• Peptide
  Hexarelin: What the Research Shows About This Potent GH Secretagogue

  Hexarelin is the most potent growth hormone releasing peptide in human studies, roughly two to three times GHRP-6, with a receptor of its own in heart muscle. Its catch is desensitization: the effect fades within weeks of daily use.