CJC-1295 and ipamorelin: how the blend works, the doses that circulate, and what studies actually tested

What it is. A blend of two growth-hormone secretagogues that act on different receptors: CJC-1295, an analogue of the hypothalamic releasing hormone GHRH, and ipamorelin, an agonist at the ghrelin receptor. Both prompt the pituitary to release growth hormone; the reasoning for combining them is that the two signals amplify each other, which is well described for the natural hormones and untested for this pair in people.

Two very different CJC-1295s. "CJC-1295 with DAC" carries a drug-affinity complex that binds albumin and extends its half-life to roughly a week; "CJC-1295 without DAC", usually called modified GRF 1-29, lasts about half an hour. Vendors sell both under the same name, and the schedules that circulate differ completely between them.

What has been tested. CJC-1295 with DAC in healthy adults in 2006: single injections raised growth hormone and IGF-1 for six days or more. Ipamorelin in two human trials: pharmacokinetics in volunteers and a failed trial for post-surgical gut recovery. The blend: nothing in people. Three indexed papers mention both; none tested them together for an outcome.

What circulates. 100 to 300 micrograms of each, injected one to three times daily, often before bed, for eight to twelve weeks; or, with the DAC form, 1 to 2 milligrams of CJC-1295 weekly plus daily ipamorelin. Untested figures.

Status. Neither approved anywhere. Both WADA S2, prohibited at all times. CJC-1295's clinical development ended after a death in a 2006 trial; the cause was not attributed to the drug, but the programme did not resume.

The blend vials sold as "CJC-1295/ipamorelin 5 mg/5 mg" or "10 mg" are almost always the no-DAC form. Someone applying the DAC schedule to a no-DAC vial, or the reverse, is not following any protocol at all, which is one reason the circulating figures cannot be treated as a regimen.

In the body, growth hormone is released in pulses when the hypothalamus secretes GHRH and the stomach secretes ghrelin at the same time; each signal alone releases some hormone, and together they release more than the sum. CJC-1295 mimics the first signal and ipamorelin the second. That is real physiology, described in studies of the natural hormones and of older secretagogues such as GHRP-6 with GHRH. What has never been done is to test whether this particular pair, at the doses that circulate, produces the effects people want, or whether repeated stimulation over months changes anything downstream.

The 2006 CJC-1295 work is the strongest evidence for either component and it cuts both ways: it showed the DAC form keeps growth hormone and IGF-1 raised for a week, which is the opposite of the pulsatile pattern the blend is marketed as preserving.

• Blood sugar. Growth hormone opposes insulin; sustained IGF-1 elevation with the DAC form is the specific concern.
• Active or recent cancer. IGF-1 promotes cell growth; every review lists it first.
• Water retention, joint aches, numbness in the hands. The classical signs of excess growth hormone, reported in communities with higher doses of the DAC form.
• Athletes. Both compounds S2, detectable, prohibited at all times.
• Adolescents, pregnancy, pituitary or thyroid disease. No data, and the axis being stimulated is either still developing or already abnormal.

• Not saying which CJC-1295. Half-hour and week-long half-lives cannot share a schedule.
• Calling it "natural" because it releases the body's own hormone. The DAC form produces a sustained elevation the body never does.
• Treating the three indexed papers as combination evidence. Two are about detecting the compounds in samples; one is a review.
• Reading the 2006 study as safety data. It was a small pharmacokinetic study in healthy people, and the programme ended.