compound
CJC-1295 with DAC
A compound that raises growth hormone for a week from one injection, whose entire human record measures the hormone and never measured a person, and whose only registered trial stopped in 2006 without saying why.
- Primary sources Registry records and papers are read at the source, not through summaries. Read the methodology
- Every claim graded Each claim about what a compound does carries an evidence tier and a numbered citation. How grades derive
- Sells nothing No cart, no price, and no product page anywhere on this site. Conflict disclosure
- Corrections logged Errors are fixed and recorded in a permanent public log, never edited away. Corrections log
This is the version of CJC-1295 that was actually studied, and the distinction between it and the version sold beside it is the reason this page exists separately.
The compound does what it was designed to do, and the measurements are unusually clean for anything on this site. A single injection raises growth hormone two to ten fold for six days or more, raises IGF-1 for nine to eleven days, and has a half-life measured in days rather than minutes. Those numbers come from randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials in healthy adults.
What no study has ever measured is whether any of that changes anything about a person. Not body composition, not muscle, not fat, not strength, not sleep, not recovery. Twenty years after the pharmacology was published, the outcome column is still empty, and the one trial that would have filled it was terminated in 2006 without a stated reason and never published.
There is also a regulatory fact here that is stronger than the one on most pages in this catalog. FDA does not say it lacks information about this compound. It says it has identified serious adverse events, and it names two of them.
| Property | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Category | A growth hormone releasing hormone analog with four amino acid substitutions and a linker that bonds it to albumin, the most abundant protein in blood | PMID 16352683 |
| Also known as | CJC-1295 DAC, where DAC stands for Drug Affinity Complex. The base peptide is identical to the version sold without that linker | The two side by side |
| Registered human trials | One. A phase 2 in HIV-associated visceral obesity with a listed enrolment of 120, recorded as terminated, with the reason field empty and no results posted | NCT00267527 |
| What the human studies measured | Growth hormone and IGF-1 concentrations in blood, in all three of them. No study has measured body composition, strength, sleep or recovery | PMID 16352683 |
| FDA compounding position | On the category 2 list, and the entry states that FDA has identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction | FDA, read 23 August 2026 |
| Anti-doping status | Named on the face of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List at S2.2.4, prohibited at all times | WADA 2026 Prohibited List |
Not medical advice
This page reports what has been documented about a compound. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, not a dosing protocol, and not a recommendation to obtain or use anything described here. Talk to a licensed clinician about anything concerning your health. Read the full disclaimer.
Reviewed against editorial standards Updated
Key takeaways
- Two randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind ascending-dose trials in healthy adults aged 21 to 61 reported that a single injection raised mean plasma growth hormone 2 to 10 fold for six days or more and mean IGF-1 1.5 to 3 fold for nine to eleven days, with an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days. After multiple doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days. [Human RCT] [1]
- The outcome measures in that trial were peak concentrations and area under the curve of growth hormone and IGF-1, plus standard pharmacokinetic parameters. Nothing about body composition, muscle, fat, strength, sleep or recovery was measured, and in the twenty years since, nothing else has measured them either.
- One trial was registered that would have measured an outcome: a multicentre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled phase 2 in HIV-associated visceral obesity, 120 planned, 12 weeks of treatment. The registry records it as terminated, gives no reason, posts no results, lists no primary outcome, and has not been updated since October 2006.
- FDA lists the compound among bulk substances that may present significant safety risks for compounding, and its entry states that the agency has identified serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295 including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction. That is a stronger statement than the agency makes about most compounds on this list, where it says instead that it lacks information.
- A second study sampled blood every 20 minutes across a 12 hour overnight window before and one week after a single injection. Growth hormone pulse frequency and magnitude were unchanged. What rose was the trough between pulses, by 7.5 fold. That result matters for the marketing of the version sold without the linker, which is sold on preserving natural pulses. [Human RCT] [2]
- Every published study of this compound, human and animal, shares one author, and the sponsoring company's staff appear on two of the four. That is a fact about the literature rather than about the molecule, and it means there is no independent replication of any of it.
- HUMAN STUDIES MEASURING AN OUTCOME
- 0
- ESTIMATED HALF-LIFE, DAYS
- 5.8 to 8.1
- NUMBERED SOURCES
- 16
- EVIDENCE GRADE
- C
Who researches CJC-1295 with DAC?
Two readers arrive here and the record answers them cleanly.
Someone deciding between the two CJC-1295 products wants to know which one has the evidence. This one does, and the comparison page sets out what that evidence covers and what it does not.
Someone who has read that this compound raises growth hormone for a week wants to know what follows from that. The honest answer is that nobody has established what follows from it, because raising a hormone concentration is where the human record stops.
What is CJC-1295 with DAC?
Plain-English version: a copy of the first 29 amino acids of the hormone that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone, altered in four places to survive longer, with a chemical handle that sticks it to a protein in blood.
Growth hormone releasing hormone is made in the hypothalamus and travels a short distance to the pituitary, where it tells the cells that make growth hormone to release it. The first 29 amino acids carry the activity, and that fragment is a drug in its own right: sermorelin.
The problem with using it is speed. Enzymes clear it in minutes, so its effect is over almost as soon as it starts. Two separate modifications address that, and they stack.
The first is four amino acid substitutions that slow the enzymes down. That gives the peptide sold as CJC-1295 without a linker. The second is the linker itself, a chemical group that bonds the peptide permanently to albumin, the most abundant protein in blood, so the molecule is carried around rather than filtered out. That gives this compound, and it is the reason the measured half-life is days rather than minutes [1].
So three products sit on one chemical line: the original fragment, the fragment with substitutions, and the fragment with substitutions and a linker. Only the third has been measured in a person under its own name.
Based on growth hormone releasing hormone 1-29 with four amino acid substitutions. This site did not verify the substituted positions against a primary chemical reference and does not print them · Not stated here. No primary chemical reference was read for this page
How strong is the evidence, claim by claim?
Every claim area this compound is discussed for gets a row, including the ones with the weakest support. The tier records what the row rests on, and the last column states what that work can and cannot show. Each tier links to its definition on the methodology page.
| Evidence Area | What Has Been Studied | Evidence Level | What It Can and Cannot Show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth hormone and IGF-1 concentrations in blood | The compound does what it was designed to do, and the measurement is clean. Two randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind ascending-dose trials of 28 and 49 days in healthy adults aged 21 to 61 reported mean plasma growth hormone up 2 to 10 fold for six days or more after a single injection, mean IGF-1 up 1.5 to 3 fold for nine to eleven days, an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days, and IGF-1 above baseline for up to 28 days after multiple doses. A second study reported mean growth hormone up 46 per cent and IGF-1 up 45 per cent one week after a single injection [1] [2] | [Human RCT] | A hormone concentration is not an outcome. The stated outcome measures of the main trial are peak concentrations, area under the curve, and pharmacokinetic parameters, and no study of this compound has measured anything a person would notice. The second study also found no significant difference between the two amounts tested, and reported that the IGF-1 increases did not correlate with any parameter of growth hormone secretion |
| The pattern in which growth hormone is released | Blood sampled every 20 minutes across a 12 hour overnight window in healthy men aged 20 to 40, before and one week after a single injection at one of two amounts. Growth hormone pulse frequency and magnitude were unaltered. Basal, meaning trough, concentrations rose 7.5 fold at p below 0.0001, and that rise is what carried the increases in mean growth hormone and in IGF-1 [2] | [Human RCT] | One study, in men, in one overnight window, one week after a single injection. What it establishes is narrower and more useful than it looks: the long-acting version raises the floor between pulses rather than flattening the pulses. That is the opposite of the reasoning used to sell the version without the linker, and no study has compared the two directly |
| Changes in serum proteins after treatment | Sera from 11 healthy young men before and one week after a single injection, separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified by mass spectrometry. Two protein spots fell, an apolipoprotein A1 isoform and a transthyretin isoform, and three rose, including beta-haemoglobin and fragments of albumin [3] | [Human RCT] | Eleven participants, no control arm described in the abstract, and the study's purpose is finding markers of growth hormone action rather than testing an effect. Its own conclusion says the mechanisms linking those proteins to biological activity remain to be clarified. One of the proteins that rose is a fragment of albumin, which is the protein this compound is designed to bind to |
| Growth and body composition in animals | Mice genetically unable to make growth hormone releasing hormone, treated for five weeks from one week of age. Daily dosing produced normal body weight and length; dosing every 48 or 72 hours raised both above untreated animals without fully normalising them. Relative lean mass and subcutaneous fat mass were normal in all treated groups. Total pituitary RNA and growth hormone messenger RNA rose, and the authors report imaging consistent with proliferation of the pituitary cells that make growth hormone [4] | [Animal] | A mouse engineered to lack the hormone this compound mimics is a model of replacing something absent, not of adding to a working system, and every participant in the human studies had a working one. The pituitary cell proliferation is reported by the authors as supporting their mechanism; no human study has examined it, and nothing here establishes it as a risk or as a benefit |
| Body composition, recovery, sleep and skin, which are what it is sold for | A published study of the market rather than of the compound. Researchers searched bodybuilding forums, narrowed to nine sites and 23 discussion threads about female use, and analysed them by a named qualitative method. The uses people gave were weight loss, muscle enhancement, youthful skin, improved sleep and injury healing. A 2026 review of this class reaches the same list from clinical practice [5] [8] | [Anecdote] | Forum accounts are what people say, not what was measured, and the same study reports its subjects were experienced users of several performance compounds at once, so nothing in those accounts can be attributed to this one. Not one of those five uses has been tested in any registered or published study of this compound, and the 2026 review places the class in an evidence tier defined by human studies that do not address performance or body-composition endpoints |
Rolled up, that puts CJC-1295 with DAC at evidence grade C Human data, wrong question . Completed human evidence exists for this compound, and none of it tested the use the compound is sold for. A grade describes the quality of the research, not whether something works and not whether anyone should use it. The derivation is published.
How CJC-1295 with DAC is thought to work
The mechanism is straightforward, it is well characterised, and understanding it explains exactly where the evidence runs out.
1. The chain it acts on, it tells the pituitary to release growth hormone, and growth hormone tells the liver to make IGF-1 (established)
The hypothalamus releases growth hormone releasing hormone in bursts. The pituitary responds by releasing growth hormone, also in bursts. The liver responds to growth hormone by making IGF-1, which is more stable in blood and carries much of what growth hormone is credited with doing.
This compound enters that chain at the top. It is a copy of the active fragment of the first hormone, modified twice so it survives, so it keeps signalling the pituitary for days after a single injection.
Both of the effects that follow have been measured directly in people, and both are large. That is the strength of this record and it is worth stating plainly before the limits. [Human RCT] [1] [2]
2. What continuous stimulation does to a pulsed system, the pulses kept happening, and the level between them went up (measured once, in one overnight window)
Growth hormone is not released steadily. It comes in bursts, mostly at night, and the burst pattern is widely held to matter for how the hormone acts. A compound that stimulates the pituitary continuously for days raises an obvious question: does the pattern survive?
The answer, from 20 minute sampling across a 12 hour overnight window in healthy men, is that pulse frequency and pulse magnitude were unaltered. What changed was the trough, which rose 7.5 fold, and that rise carried the increases in mean growth hormone and IGF-1.
The study also reported that the IGF-1 increases did not correlate with any measured parameter of growth hormone secretion, which is an awkward result for a simple reading of the chain above and is stated here rather than smoothed over. [Human RCT] [2]
3. Where the mechanism stops being evidence, raising a hormone is not the same as changing anything about a person (no human outcome study exists)
Everything above is a measurement of the signal. None of it is a measurement of a result.
The distinction is not pedantic in this field. Growth hormone itself has been given to healthy adults in trials, and the relationship between raising it and changing body composition, strength or function is exactly the question those trials exist to answer. For this compound, no such trial has read out. The one that was registered stopped.
So the mechanism section on this page ends where the vendor pages begin. What a compound does to a hormone concentration is what has been shown. What it does to a person is what is being sold. [Anecdote] [5] [8] [12]
What we do not know
What this compound does to body composition, strength, sleep, recovery or anything else a person would notice. No registered or published study has measured any of it.
Why the phase 2 trial was terminated. The registry's reason field is empty and the record has not been updated since October 2006.
Whether the terminated trial used this version or the version without the linker. The record says only CJC-1295, gives no intervention description and lists no primary outcome.
Why the IGF-1 rise did not correlate with any parameter of growth hormone secretion in the pulsatility study.
What the pituitary cell proliferation reported in the knockout mouse would mean in a person, if anything. No human study has looked.
Whether any of the published pharmacology replicates outside the one author group that produced all of it.
What this evidence can and cannot show
These results come from Healthy human adults for the pharmacology, and a genetically modified mouse for the growth work. in Ascending-dose randomised trials, overnight pulse sampling with 20 minute intervals, and the growth hormone releasing hormone knockout mouse., not from people. An animal model is a deliberate simplification: the injury is created on purpose, the animal is young and healthy, the dose is scaled to body weight in a way that does not translate directly, and the outcome is measured at a fixed point rather than lived with. Cell and tissue work is a further step removed, because the concentrations that produce an effect in a dish are often far above anything a body reaches. Mechanism is a reason to run a trial. It is not a substitute for one, and compounds that looked mechanistically convincing have failed in people many times.
Has CJC-1295 with DAC been tested in humans?
Three human studies exist, all published between 2006 and 2009, and all three measured the same kind of thing.
The table separates what was measured from what a reader is likely to be looking for, because on this compound those two lists do not overlap at all.
| Study | People | What was done | Result | Evidence level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending-dose pharmacology, 2006 | Healthy adults aged 21 to 61, two sites | Two randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials of 28 and 49 days. Growth hormone up 2 to 10 fold for six days or more, IGF-1 up 1.5 to 3 fold for nine to eleven days, half-life 5.8 to 8.1 days. No serious adverse reactions reported | Outcome measures were hormone concentrations and pharmacokinetic parameters. The most cited study of this compound and the source of nearly every figure quoted for it | [Human RCT] |
| Pulse pattern, 2006 | Healthy men aged 20 to 40 | Blood every 20 minutes across a 12 hour overnight window, before and one week after a single injection at one of two amounts. Pulse frequency and magnitude unaltered; trough up 7.5 fold (p below 0.0001); mean growth hormone up 46 per cent; IGF-1 up 45 per cent | No significant difference between the two amounts. IGF-1 increases did not correlate with any parameter of growth hormone secretion | [Human RCT] |
| Serum protein profile, 2009 | 11 healthy young men | Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of sera before and one week after a single injection, with proteins identified by mass spectrometry. Two spots down, three up | A search for markers of growth hormone action, including for detecting abuse in athletes. Not a study of effect | [Human RCT] |
| The registered phase 2 (NCT00267527) | 120 planned | Multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, low dose against high dose against placebo, 12 weeks of treatment and 6 weeks of follow-up, in HIV-associated visceral obesity | Terminated. The reason field is empty, no results are posted, no primary outcome is listed, and the record has not been updated since October 2006 | [Anecdote] |
Why we are not calling this proof
A hormone concentration is not an outcome. All three human studies of this compound measured growth hormone, IGF-1 or proteins in blood. None measured body composition, strength, sleep, recovery or injury, which are the reasons people take it.
A pharmacokinetic result is not a safety result. The ascending-dose trials reported no serious adverse reactions over 28 and 49 days in healthy volunteers. FDA, looking at a wider body of information, states that it has identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction. Both statements are on this page and neither cancels the other.
A study in a mouse engineered to lack this hormone is a study of replacing something absent. Everyone in the human studies had a working system already.
One author appears on all four published studies of this compound and the sponsor's staff on two. Nothing here has been replicated by an unconnected group.
Benefits: what the research shows
The matrix above holds each claim and its source. This section is about the shape of the record, which on this compound is unusually easy to describe.
The honest bottom line on benefits
This compound has better pharmacology than almost anything else in this catalog and no outcome evidence at all. Both halves of that are worth taking seriously.
The pharmacology is real, randomised, placebo-controlled and specific: a single injection raises growth hormone for the better part of a week and IGF-1 for longer, with a half-life measured in days. Very little else on this site can say as much.
What follows from it has never been measured. Not once, in twenty years, in any registered or published study. The trial designed to measure it enrolled into HIV-associated visceral obesity, ran for less than a year, and stopped without a stated reason. Its record has sat unchanged since October 2006.
Set beside that, the five things people say they take it for are weight loss, muscle, skin, sleep and injury healing. The distance between those two lists is not a gap in this page's research. It is the state of the evidence.
How long CJC-1295 with DAC stays in the body
This is the best characterised part of the compound and the reason it exists. The linker bonds the peptide to albumin, a protein that circulates for weeks, so the peptide is carried rather than cleared. The measured result is an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days.
The downstream effects outlast that. A single injection raised mean growth hormone for six days or more and mean IGF-1 for nine to eleven days, and after repeated doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days, which the paper describes as evidence of a cumulative effect.
One result complicates the simple picture and belongs here rather than buried. In the pulsatility study, two different amounts produced no significantly different response, and the IGF-1 increases did not correlate with any measured parameter of growth hormone secretion. Whatever sets the IGF-1 response, that study did not find it in the growth hormone data.
Estimated half-life 5.8 to 8.1 days after subcutaneous injection, with effects on IGF-1 lasting longer than the compound itself. [Human RCT] [1] [2]
What is documented about dosing
Nothing here is a dosing recommendation. Statements about dosing reflect what published studies administered and what community sources report.
Commonly cited protocols (extrapolated, not validated)
Nothing here is a dosing recommendation. Statements about dosing reflect community and research reports only.
| Study | What was given | Frequency | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending-dose trials, 2006 | Amounts stated per kilogram of body weight in the source paper | Single, then weekly or every two weeks | 28 and 49 days | Healthy adults. Outcome measures were hormone concentrations, not results |
| Pulse pattern study, 2006 | Two amounts per kilogram, stated in the source paper | Single injection | Sampled one week later | No significant difference in response between the two amounts tested |
| Serum protein study, 2009 | As stated in the source paper | Single injection | Sampled one week later | 11 participants |
| The terminated phase 2 | A low dose arm and a high dose arm, neither stated in the registry record | Not stated in the record | 12 weeks planned | Terminated with no reason given and no results posted |
| Any use for body composition or recovery | Nothing documented | Nothing documented | Nothing documented | No study has measured this compound against any such outcome |
A long half-life is a pharmacokinetic property, not a schedule. Community sources build schedules out of the published half-life by arithmetic, and arithmetic on a half-life cannot establish how often anything should be given, because the relationship between concentration and effect for this compound has never been measured against an effect.
The one study that compared two different amounts head to head found no significant difference between them in growth hormone or IGF-1 response. That is the only comparative dose information that exists for this compound in a person.
Commonly cited protocols (extrapolated, not validated) circulate widely for this compound, including in a peer-reviewed 2026 review that documents them as a clinical phenomenon rather than endorsing them. This site does not reproduce them as guidance.
Nothing here is a dosing recommendation. Talk to a licensed clinician about anything concerning your health.
Main routes people compare, and what each source class actually reported, are set out on the documented protocols page.
Reported effects and what has been measured
What FDA has said, and why it is unusual
FDA lists CJC-1295 among bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks. Its entry, read on 23 August 2026, states that compounded drugs containing it may pose risk for immunogenicity for certain routes of administration and may have complexities regarding peptide-related impurities and characterisation of the active ingredient, that FDA has identified serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295 including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction, and that available clinical data are limited.
The middle clause is what makes this entry different from most on that list. For several other compounds this site covers, the agency's stated position is that it lacks the information to judge the risks. Here the agency says it has identified serious adverse events and names two of them.
FDA does not publish the underlying reports on that page, so this site cannot say how many, how severe, or in what circumstances. What is on the record is the agency's own dated statement, and it is reproduced above rather than summarised. [Anecdote] [14]
What the published trials reported
The ascending-dose trials reported no serious adverse reactions over 28 and 49 days in healthy volunteers, and their published conclusion applies the words safe and relatively well tolerated to the two amounts they named.
Those are the words of a pharmacology study in healthy adults over a matter of weeks. They are not a general safety finding, and this site does not describe any compound as safe.
No published study has followed anyone taking this compound for longer than 49 days. [Human RCT] [1]
The class picture, from recent reviews
Three 2026 reviews cover this compound as part of the growth hormone axis class. The adverse effects they attribute to the class are endocrine and metabolic disturbances including prolactin and cortisol elevations, appetite changes and disordered blood sugar, fluid retention, muscle and joint pain, and injection-site reactions.
Those are class-level observations rather than findings about this compound, and the reviews are narrative rather than systematic. They are on this page because the class picture is the only picture that exists for the effects a person might notice. [Anecdote] [8] [9] [10]
What has been measured about CJC-1295 with DAC, and what has never been studied
Talk to a licensed clinician about anything concerning your health.
Sourcing and quality
What a credible product should show
There is no approved product, no pharmacopoeial monograph and no reference standard for this compound, so a certificate of analysis has nothing external to be checked against.
Validated analytical methods do exist, because anti-doping laboratories needed them. One identifies sermorelin, CJC-1293, CJC-1295 and tesamorelin in human plasma by immunoaffinity purification and high-resolution mass spectrometry, with a limit of detection below 50 pg/mL. Another confirms CJC-1295 in equine plasma. Those are detection methods for testing people and animals, not quality specifications for a product.
The falsified peptide market has been measured directly, and the measurement is worth knowing before reading any certificate. A systematic screen of the ten most frequently encountered falsified peptide drugs on one national market, bought from three suspected illegal internet pharmacies, found wide variation in the amount per unit and purity between 5 and 75 per cent for the cysteine-containing peptides, and found arsenic and lead, with multiple samples up to ten times the toxicity limit for injected drugs and all the arsenic in its more toxic inorganic form. Whether this compound was among the ten is not established here.
Red flags
A body-composition, recovery or sleep claim for this compound. Nothing has measured any of them.
The half-life or the growth hormone multiples quoted as though they were results. They are the measurements, and they are the whole human record.
The terminated phase 2 cited as a completed study, or a reason given for its termination. The registry's reason field is empty.
This compound's pharmacology attributed to the version sold without the linker. The two are different products and only this one has been measured under its own name.
An evidence summary that leaves out FDA's statement that it has identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction.
A claim that it is not banned in sport. It is named on the face of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List at S2.2.4.
Will it show on a drug test?
This compound is named on the face of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List at S2.2.4, in the entry covering growth hormone releasing hormone analogues and secretagogues, which is prohibited at all times rather than in competition only [15].
Detection is established rather than theoretical. A validated method identifies it in human plasma at a limit of detection below 50 pg/mL [6], and a separate validated method confirms it in equine plasma [7]. An athlete should treat this compound as testable.
Storage
No storage guidance is given here. Storage conditions belong to a characterised formulation and no characterised formulation of this compound exists.
Regulatory status, as of 23 August 2026
| Body | Position | Date | Document |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDA | No approved application. A query for CJC-1295 across generic and brand name fields returned no record | Queried 23 August 2026 | openFDA drugsfda endpoint |
| FDA | Listed among bulk drug substances for compounding that may present significant safety risks, with the agency stating it has identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction | Page content current as of 22 April 2026, read 23 August 2026 | FDA human drug compounding, category 2 list |
| European Medicines Agency | Not approved. Stated in a 2026 peer-reviewed review of this class | Published 2026 | Front Endocrinol review, PMID 42395176 |
| WADA | Named on the face of the 2026 Prohibited List at S2.2.4, prohibited at all times | List effective 1 January 2026, read 9 August 2026 | WADA 2026 Prohibited List |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | One registration, terminated, with an empty reason field, no posted results and no update since October 2006 | Swept 23 August 2026 | ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API |
The regulatory record for this compound is short and unusually pointed. It has never been approved anywhere, its only trial stopped, and the one agency that has published an assessment of it says it has identified serious adverse events.
The anti-doping position is worth separating from the rest, because it is often reported vaguely. This compound is not reached by a catch-all: it is named, on the face of the list, in the same entry as sermorelin, tesamorelin, ipamorelin and the growth hormone releasing peptides. That is a rules position rather than a statement about what the compound does.
This section is dated and re-checked on review. It records documents and their contents, not evidence about an effect, and carries no evidence tier for that reason.
CJC-1295 with DAC compared with other growth hormone secretagogues
| Compound | Evidence grade | What the human record covers | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| CJC-1295 without DAC | Graded on its own page | The same base peptide without the albumin linker. No registration and no published human study under its own name | /peptides/cjc-1295/ |
| Sermorelin | Graded on the group page | The unmodified 1-29 fragment, and a drug FDA approved and later withdrew, in a determination that says the withdrawal was not for safety or effectiveness | /peptides/groups/growth-hormone-secretagogues/#sermorelin |
| Tesamorelin | Graded on the group page | The same class, developed properly: an approved medicine sold as EGRIFTA with randomised trials behind an FDA-approved indication | /peptides/groups/growth-hormone-secretagogues/#tesamorelin |
| Ipamorelin | Graded on the group page | A different mechanism in the same axis, and the compound this one is most often blended with. No published study tested the blend | /peptides/groups/growth-hormone-secretagogues/#ipamorelin |
The comparison that decides what this compound is worth reading about is with tesamorelin, because tesamorelin is the same class taken through the process this one stopped short of. It has randomised trials in a defined population, an approved indication, and a regulator's prescribing information behind it. A 2026 review of this class puts it in the top evidence tier and puts CJC-1295 without the linker in the bottom one.
The comparison readers actually search is between the two CJC-1295 products, and it has its own page because the difference between them is a chemical linker and a complete published record.
What CJC-1295 with DAC typically costs
Frequently asked questions
What does DAC mean?
Drug Affinity Complex. It is a chemical group that bonds the peptide to albumin, the most abundant protein in blood, so the molecule is carried around rather than cleared. It is the reason this version has an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days.
Has it been tested in humans?
Yes, three times, between 2006 and 2009. All three measured hormone or protein concentrations in blood. None measured body composition, strength, sleep or recovery.
What did the main trial find?
Two randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind ascending-dose trials in healthy adults found that a single injection raised mean plasma growth hormone 2 to 10 fold for six days or more and mean IGF-1 1.5 to 3 fold for nine to eleven days, with an estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days.
Does it change body composition?
No study has measured that. The one registered trial that would have measured an outcome, a phase 2 in HIV-associated visceral obesity, was terminated with no reason given and never published.
Why was that trial terminated?
The registry's reason field is empty and nothing else on the record states one. The record has not been updated since October 2006, and this site does not infer a reason.
Does it flatten natural growth hormone pulses?
Not according to the one study that measured it. Sampling every 20 minutes across a 12 hour overnight window found pulse frequency and magnitude unaltered one week after a single injection. What rose was the trough between pulses, by 7.5 fold.
How is it different from the version without DAC?
The base peptide is the same. This version carries a linker that bonds it to albumin. That linker is the reason this version has published human pharmacology and the other does not.
What has FDA said about it?
FDA lists it among bulk drug substances for compounding that may present significant safety risks, stating that it has identified serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295 including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction, and that available clinical data are limited.
Is it banned in sport?
Yes. It is named on the face of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List at S2.2.4, prohibited at all times rather than in competition only, and validated detection methods exist for human plasma at a limit of detection below 50 pg/mL.
Is the evidence independent?
No. One author appears on all four published studies of this compound, human and animal, and the sponsoring company's staff appear on two of them. Nothing has been replicated by an unconnected group.
Why does this page exist if there is no outcome evidence?
Because the pharmacology is real and specific, and a reader deserves to see exactly where it stops. A compound can raise a hormone for a week, be measured doing it in randomised trials, and still have never been tested against anything a person would notice.
References
- 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. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006. 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. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006. PMID 17018654 DOI 10.1210/jc.2006-1702
- Sackmann-Sala L, Ding J, Frohman LA, Kopchick JJ. 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. PMID 19386527 DOI 10.1016/j.ghir.2009.03.001
- Alba M, Fintini D, Sagazio A, Lawrence B, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA, Salvatori R. 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. PMID 16822960 DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.00201.2006
- Van Hout MC, Hearne E. Netnography of Female Use of the Synthetic Growth Hormone CJC-1295: Pulses and Potions. Subst Use Misuse. 2016. PMID 26771670 DOI 10.3109/10826084.2015.1082595
- Knoop A, Thomas A, Fichant E, Delahaut P, Schänzer W, Thevis M. Qualitative identification of growth hormone-releasing hormones in human plasma by means of immunoaffinity purification and LC-HRMS/MS. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2016. PMID 26879649 DOI 10.1007/s00216-016-9377-3
- Timms M, Ganio K, Steel R. A method for confirming CJC-1295 abuse in equine plasma samples by LC-MS/MS. Drug Test Anal. 2019. PMID 30938069 DOI 10.1002/dta.2599
- 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. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2026. PMID 42395176 DOI 10.3389/fendo.2026.1822475
- Mendias CL, Awan TM. Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance. Sports Med. 2026. PMID 41966639 DOI 10.1007/s40279-026-02437-0
- Villegas Meza AD, Nocek M, Mitchell BC, Lizarraga M, DeFoor MT, Ruzbarsky JJ, Huard J, Philippon MJ. Injectable Peptides in Sports Medicine: A Structured Narrative Review of Evidence, Safety, and Antidoping Implications. JBJS Rev. 2026. PMID 42160466 DOI 10.2106/JBJS.RVW.26.00027
- Janvier S, Cheyns K, Canfyn M, Goscinny S, De Spiegeleer B, Vanhee C, Deconinck E. Impurity profiling of the most frequently encountered falsified polypeptide drugs on the Belgian market. Talanta. 2018. PMID 30029448 DOI 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.06.023
- ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT00267527, study ID GH100-013: a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase 2 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CJC 1295 administered for 12 weeks in HIV infected patients with HIV associated visceral obesity, sponsored by ConjuChem, with a listed enrolment of 120 randomized to low dose, high dose or placebo and a 6 week follow-up. Listed start December 2005, listed completion September 2006. Recorded as TERMINATED with the whyStopped field EMPTY, no results posted, no primary outcome measures listed, and no update to the record since 12 October 2006. The record names the intervention only as CJC 1295 and gives no description, so which variant it used is not established. Read through the v2 API on 23 August 2026. ClinicalTrials.gov. 2026. NCT00267527
- ClinicalTrials.gov. Registry sweep for CJC-1295, CJC 1295, CJC1295, modified GRF 1-29, drug affinity complex GHRH, tetrasubstituted GHRH analog and ConjuChem GHRH, plus a sponsor query for ConjuChem, run through the v2 API on 23 August 2026. Exactly one record names the compound in its interventions: NCT00267527. No registration exists under any name for the version sold without the albumin linker. ClinicalTrials.gov. 2026. ClinicalTrials.gov
- US Food and Drug Administration. Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding that May Present Significant Safety Risks. The category 2 table carries the row CJC-1295, reading in full: compounded drugs containing CJC-1295 may pose risk for immunogenicity for certain routes of administration and may have complexities with regard to for peptide-related impurities and API characterization; FDA has identified serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295 including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction; available clinical data are limited. Page content current as of 22 April 2026, fetched with a browser user agent and read on 23 August 2026. FDA human drug compounding. 2026. FDA category 2 list
- World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, international standard, effective 1 January 2026. Section S2.2.4 names CJC-1295 on the list's own face, alongside ipamorelin, ibutamoren, examorelin, GHRP-2, GHRP-6, sermorelin and tesamorelin. S2 substances are prohibited at all times. Retrieved by hand and read back on 9 August 2026; the URL serves zero bytes to automation and is ledgered in tools/unverified-sources.json. World Anti-Doping Agency. 2026. WADA 2026 Prohibited List
- US Food and Drug Administration. Drugs@FDA approved drug products, queried through the openFDA drugsfda endpoint on 23 August 2026 for CJC-1295 and CJC 1295 across the generic name and brand name fields. Both queries returned NOT_FOUND: there is no approved US application under either spelling. openFDA. 2026. openFDA drugsfda