CJC-1295
A GHRH analogue built to last a week by latching onto albumin: two small studies in healthy adults, no approval, and a 'no-DAC' version sold under the same name
CJC-1295 is the first 29 amino acids of GHRH with four substitutions and a reactive group that bonds to the blood protein albumin after injection, so one dose lasts days instead of minutes. In healthy adults a single injection raised growth hormone two- to tenfold for six days or more and IGF-1 for up to 11 days, with a half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days. It was never approved. Much of what is sold as CJC-1295 is the 29-amino-acid peptide without the albumin binder, which is a different drug with a different half-life.
What is it?
CJC-1295 starts from the same 29 amino acids as sermorelin, the active piece of growth hormone-releasing hormone. Four substitutions protect it from being cut, and an extra lysine at the end carries a maleimide group that forms a covalent bond with albumin after injection. In rats the albumin-bound peptide was still in the blood after 72 hours, and in cell tests the conjugate resisted the enzyme that normally breaks GHRH down within minutes. The same design idea, often called DAC for drug affinity complex, gives the version with the linker its name.
Two published studies in healthy adults describe what it does. In 2006, single injections under the skin raised mean growth hormone two- to tenfold for six days or more and IGF-1 1.5- to threefold for 9 to 11 days, with an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days; after two or three doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days, and there were no serious adverse reactions. A second study found that growth hormone kept its normal pulses a week after a dose: pulse frequency and size were unchanged, but the trough between pulses rose 7.5-fold, mean growth hormone by 46% and IGF-1 by 45%.
That is nearly the whole human record. A 2009 analysis of blood from 11 of those men looked for new markers of growth hormone action, a 2016 study read women's forum posts about using it for weight loss, muscle and skin, and anti-doping chemists have built tests to find it in horse plasma. It was never approved anywhere. When nominated for US compounding, the nomination was withdrawn, and FDA's safety-risk page records serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295, including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction.
The name is used loosely. In 2009 Norwegian police and customs sent chemists an unknown preparation that turned out to be a 29-amino-acid peptide with an amide at the end, consistent with what was being marketed as CJC-1295, which means no albumin-binding lysine. That peptide, often sold as 'CJC-1295 without DAC' or modified GRF 1-29, does not bind albumin and has not been studied in the trials above, so the week-long action described here does not apply to it.
Mechanism of Action
CJC-1295 is a GHRH receptor agonist that stays in the circulation because it is bonded to albumin. The first two pathways come from human studies, the others from animals and laboratory work.
The binding and growth steps come from rats and mice; the hormone rises were measured in healthy adults. No trial measured body composition, growth or function in people.
Each step is tagged with where it was shown. A dashed red arrow marks a link the evidence does not establish.
The pathway in words
- CJC-1295. GHRH(1-29) with four substitutions and a reactive lysine added so that it bonds to albumin after injection. Shown in: animals. Source: PubMed 15817669.
- Bonded to albumin. In rats it attached to albumin within 15 minutes and stayed in the blood beyond 72 hours, with four times the growth hormone response of unmodified GRF. Shown in: animals. Source: PubMed 15817669.
- Normal growth in mice. Daily doses normalised body weight and length in mice lacking their own GHRH; doses every two or three days fell short. Shown in: animals. Source: PubMed 16822960.
- Days of GH and IGF-1. In healthy adults one injection raised growth hormone 2- to 10-fold for 6 days or more and IGF-1 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days; half-life 5.8 to 8.1 days. Shown in: people. Source: PubMed 16352683.
- Pulses survive. A week after a dose in healthy men, growth hormone pulses kept their frequency and size, while the trough rose 7.5-fold and IGF-1 45%. Shown in: people. Source: PubMed 17018654.
- never tested in people. A benefit in people. The human trials measured hormone levels and safety; none measured body composition, growth or function. Shown in: people. Source: PubMed 16352683.
Albumin bonding
The maleimide group reacts with a free thiol on albumin, so the peptide rides on the blood's most abundant protein. Albumin conjugates of GHRH(1–29) resisted dipeptidyl peptidase-IV in the laboratory and stayed active in rat pituitary cells, and in rats CJC-1295 appeared on the albumin band of a Western blot within 15 minutes and remained for more than 24 hours.
Sustained growth hormone and IGF-1
Constant stimulation of the GHRH receptor raised growth hormone for days in healthy adults. The pulses were preserved, but the troughs between them rose sharply, so most of the extra growth hormone came from a higher floor rather than bigger peaks. IGF-1 rose by 45% to threefold, and after several doses stayed up for weeks.
Growth in GHRH-deficient mice
In mice lacking the GHRH gene, daily CJC-1295 for five weeks produced normal body weight and length, and every-other-day doses produced normal bone length, with more pituitary growth hormone RNA and signs of growth hormone cell proliferation. Doses every 72 hours did not fully normalise growth.
Cardiovascular reactions
FDA's compounding safety page records serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295, including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction, and notes that clinical data are limited. The published human studies reported no serious adverse reactions.
Published Research
Our evidence set returned papers that name CJC-1295, nine in their titles. The eight cards below are four human studies, three animal studies and one laboratory analysis of a seized product. Only two of the human papers gave the drug for a pharmacological reason; the other two analysed blood from those volunteers and read internet forums. Our dataset also cited a 2015 Sackmann-Sala review in Peptides; PubMed lists no such paper among that author's 21 records, so it was replaced by her 2009 CJC-1295 study, carded below.
Two dose-escalation trials
In two randomised, placebo-controlled trials lasting 28 and 49 days, healthy adults aged 21 to 61 received single or repeated injections under the skin. One injection raised mean growth hormone two- to tenfold for six days or more and IGF-1 1.5- to threefold for 9 to 11 days; the half-life was 5.8 to 8.1 days. After repeated doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days, with a cumulative effect and no serious adverse reactions, and 30 or 60 µg/kg was relatively well tolerated.
Pulses survive, the floor rises
Healthy men aged 20 to 40 had blood drawn every 20 minutes overnight before and a week after 60 or 90 µg/kg of CJC-1295. Growth hormone pulses kept their frequency and size, but trough levels rose 7.5-fold, mean growth hormone by 46% and IGF-1 by 45%, with no difference between the doses. The IGF-1 rise did not correlate with any measure of growth hormone secretion.
Blood proteins after a dose
Serum from 11 healthy young men, before and a week after a CJC-1295 injection, was screened for proteins that change with growth hormone action. An apolipoprotein A1 isoform and a transthyretin isoform fell, while beta-haemoglobin and albumin fragments rose; the authors propose such proteins as possible markers of growth hormone activity or abuse.
What women on forums say
A study of 23 discussion threads on nine bodybuilding forums found women using CJC-1295 for weight loss, muscle, younger-looking skin, sleep and injury healing, usually alongside other performance and image drugs. Users worried about how sex differences in growth hormone pulses affect dosing and cycling, and about long-term consequences.
How the albumin bond was chosen
Chemists made three maleimide versions of GHRH(1–29) and bonded them to human albumin. All resisted dipeptidyl peptidase-IV and stayed active in rat pituitary cells. The best, CJC-1295, gave four times the growth hormone of unmodified GHRH(1–29) over two hours in rats, remained in plasma beyond 72 hours, and appeared bound to albumin within 15 minutes of injection.
Normal growth in GHRH-deficient mice
Mice lacking the GHRH gene received 2 µg of CJC-1295 every 24, 48 or 72 hours for five weeks from one week of age. Daily dosing gave normal body weight and length, every-other-day dosing normal bone length, and dosing every 72 hours improved growth without normalising it; pituitary growth hormone RNA rose and growth hormone cells appeared to proliferate.
Catching it in racehorses
Because CJC-1295 bonds to plasma proteins it is hard to detect directly. Researchers confirmed it in horse plasma by capturing it with antibodies, digesting it and analysing the fragments by mass spectrometry, detecting concentrations as low as 180 pg/mL in 1 mL of plasma.
What a seized 'CJC-1295' contained
An unknown preparation seized by Norwegian police and customs in 2009 contained a 29-amino-acid peptide with a C-terminal amide, whose sequence the chemists found consistent with a peptide then marketed as CJC-1295. The authors note it is a growth hormone releasing factor, prohibited under section S2 of the WADA List, readily available and probably used in bodybuilding.
What people say, and what was measured
CJC-1295 is where a hormone measurement gets mistaken for a result. Its trials showed it raises growth hormone and IGF-1 for weeks on end, which is true and was never in doubt. What nobody has tested is whether raising them does anything for the people buying it.
It keeps growth hormone elevated for days from a single injection.
Heard in: Grey Peptides listing review, October 1, 2026: listings describe weekly or twice-weekly dosing on the strength of its long action. Sellers are not named.
Measured and confirmed in healthy adults. Single and repeated subcutaneous doses produced sustained, dose-dependent rises in growth hormone and IGF-1, with mean IGF-1 still above baseline for up to 28 days after multiple doses, and no serious adverse reactions reported. A second study showed the natural pulsing of growth hormone was preserved. PMID: 16352683, 17018654, 16822960
Tested in people; supportedHigher growth hormone and IGF-1 mean more muscle, better recovery and younger skin.
Heard in: Substance Use and Misuse, Netnography of Female Use of the Synthetic Growth Hormone CJC-1295, which found use centred on weight loss, muscle enhancement, youthful skin, improved sleep and injury healing (read October 1, 2026). Source
Not one of those outcomes has been measured in a trial of CJC-1295. The human studies measured hormones in blood and nothing else; a later analysis looked for protein markers of that hormone activity in serum, which is again a measurement rather than a benefit. Every claimed effect is an inference from the hormone rise. PMID: 16352683, 19386527
Never tested in peopleIt is a safe way to raise growth hormone because the body still releases it in natural pulses.
Heard in: Grey Peptides listing review, October 1, 2026: listings contrast it with injected growth hormone on the grounds that release stays pulsatile. Sellers are not named.
Pulsatility was indeed preserved, which is a real finding and a narrow one: the same study found trough and mean growth hormone raised, and the IGF-1 rise did not correlate with any measure of growth hormone secretion. Safety rests on short studies in healthy adults; the development programme was discontinued, so no long-term data exist. PMID: 17018654, 16352683
Measured, never givenIt is a peptide, so it is not a doping agent in the way growth hormone is.
Heard in: WADA 2026 Prohibited List, section S2, growth hormone releasing factors (read October 1, 2026). Source
Analytical chemists identified CJC-1295 in an unknown pharmaceutical preparation and noted it is a growth hormone releasing factor and therefore prohibited under section S2 of the WADA list. A detection method for it exists in horses as well. Being a releasing factor rather than the hormone changes nothing about the rule. PMID: 21204297, 30938069
Contradicted by the ruleEach claim is quoted from where it is said, never from a seller, and checked as of October 1, 2026 against the studies listed below.
Dosing Data
CJC-1295 has no approved dose. The human studies gave single or repeated injections under the skin, dosed per kilogram, with 30 to 90 µg/kg used in the published results; for a 70 kg adult, 60 µg/kg is 4.2 mg. The weekly flat doses in circulation are community figures.
Educational information, not medical advice. Each dose above is tagged with its source: an approved label, a published human study, animal data, or amounts reported by users. None is a recommendation for you. An unapproved compound has no established safe or effective human dose, and products sold for “research use only” are not made or tested for people. Talk to a doctor before acting on anything on this site, including before you start, stop or change any medicine or dose. Full medical disclaimer.
→ Full CJC-1295 dosage guide — the community figures, the per-kilogram doses the two human studies used, and the DAC versus no-DAC confusion.
Side Effects & Contraindications
Reported Side Effects
From the two human studies and FDA's compounding safety page.
Contraindications & Cautions
No trial defined who should avoid CJC-1295. These cautions follow from how it works and what FDA has recorded.
Legal Status
CJC-1295 is not approved as a medicine anywhere. Status as of September 26, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
?What is the difference between CJC-1295 with and without DAC?
The version studied in people carries an extra lysine with a maleimide group, the drug affinity complex, that bonds to albumin, giving a half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days. The version without it, often called modified GRF 1-29, is the same substituted 29-amino-acid chain with no albumin binder and much shorter action. A preparation seized in Norway in 2009 and sold as CJC-1295 was a 29-amino-acid peptide without the binder.
?How long does CJC-1295 last?
In healthy adults, one injection of the albumin-binding version raised growth hormone for six days or more and IGF-1 for 9 to 11 days, with a half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days. After two or three doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days.
?Does CJC-1295 disrupt natural growth hormone pulses?
Not in the one study that measured them. A week after a dose, pulse frequency and size were unchanged, but the level between pulses rose 7.5-fold, so mean growth hormone rose 46% and IGF-1 45%.
?Why was CJC-1295 never approved?
Our sources do not say why it was not developed further. What is on record is two small studies in healthy adults, no published efficacy trial in patients, a withdrawn compounding nomination, and FDA's note of serious adverse events including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction.
?Is CJC-1295 safe to combine with ipamorelin?
No published trial has tested the combination in people. The two act on different receptors that both lead to growth hormone release, which is why they are paired, and FDA lists safety concerns for both as compounding substances.
?Can drug tests detect CJC-1295?
Yes. Because it bonds to plasma proteins it is hard to find directly, but anti-doping chemists have validated tests, such as antibody capture followed by mass spectrometry, that detect it in horse plasma at 180 pg/mL. Its status in sport is in the legal table on this page, from our regulatory tracker.
References
- [clinical-trial] Teichman SL, et al. "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." J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006;91(3):799-805. PMID: 16352683.
- [pubmed] Ionescu M, et al. "Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog." J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006;91(12):4792-7. PMID: 17018654.
- [pubmed] Sackmann-Sala L, et al. "Activation of the GH/IGF-1 axis by CJC-1295, a long-acting GHRH analog, results in serum protein profile changes in normal adult subjects." Growth Horm IGF Res, 2009;19(6):471-7. PMID: 19386527.
- [pubmed] Van Hout MC, et al. "Netnography of Female Use of the Synthetic Growth Hormone CJC-1295: Pulses and Potions." Subst Use Misuse, 2016;51(1):73-84. PMID: 26771670.
- [pubmed] Jetté L, et al. "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." Endocrinology, 2005;146(7):3052-8. PMID: 15817669.
- [pubmed] Alba M, et al. "Once-daily administration of CJC-1295, a long-acting growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog, normalizes growth in the GHRH knockout mouse." Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2006;291(6):E1290-4. PMID: 16822960.
- [pubmed] Timms M, et al. "A method for confirming CJC-1295 abuse in equine plasma samples by LC-MS/MS." Drug Test Anal, 2019;11(8):1248-1257. PMID: 30938069.
- [pubmed] Henninge J, et al. "Identification of CJC-1295, a growth-hormone-releasing peptide, in an unknown pharmaceutical preparation." Drug Test Anal, 2010;2(11-12):647-50. PMID: 21204297.
- [other] U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks (CJC-1295, among nominations withdrawn). Content current as of April 22, 2026; read September 26, 2026.
Sources & Citations
Every citation on this page is PubMed-indexed and has been checked against its record, except FDA's compounding safety page, which is cited as published. A citation in our earlier entry to a 2015 Sackmann-Sala review in Peptides matched no PubMed record and was replaced by her 2009 CJC-1295 study. Grey Peptides sells nothing and links to no vendor.
Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is an instruction to obtain or use any compound. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.