The Evidence
What the Research Shows
Context: All human data come from short studies in healthy volunteers published in 2006 and 2009. No study has shown a health benefit from CJC-1295 in any patient group.
The published research on CJC-1295 is small. It covers animal experiments, two short trials in healthy people and a growing number of anti-doping studies.
Animal Studies
- Rats (Endocrinology, 2005): CJC-1295 resisted DPP-4, released four times more growth hormone than GHRH(1-29) and was found bound to albumin in blood for over 24 hours.
- Mice without GHRH (Am J Physiol, 2006): mice bred to lack their own GHRH grew to normal weight and length when given CJC-1295 once a day for five weeks. Doses every two or three days helped less. The pituitary glands showed more growth hormone producing cells.
Studies in Healthy Adults
- Duration (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006): after one injection, average growth hormone rose two- to tenfold for six days or more, and IGF-I rose 1.5- to threefold for nine to eleven days. The estimated half-life was 5.8 to 8.1 days. With repeated doses, IGF-I stayed above baseline for up to 28 days. No serious adverse reactions were reported.
- Pulse pattern (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006): in young men sampled every 20 minutes overnight, growth hormone pulses kept their usual number and size. The levels between pulses rose about 7.5-fold, mean growth hormone by 46% and IGF-I by 45%.
- Blood proteins (Growth Horm IGF Res, 2009): in 11 young men, a week after an injection, several blood proteins changed. The authors proposed them as possible markers of growth hormone activity.
Anti-Doping Research
A 2021 review from King's College London noted that GHRH analogues had apparently not been found in official anti-doping samples, even though there was evidence of their use. The authors studied how CJC-1295, with and without DAC, breaks down and built a urine test whose detection limits were generally at or below WADA's required level of 1 nanogram per millilitre.
Gaps in the Evidence
- No results have been published from trials in patients.
- The longest published human study lasted 49 days.
- Several key papers were written with scientists from the developing company.
- A 2026 review of unapproved peptides in sports medicine judged rigorous human safety data to be scarce.
Bottom Line
CJC-1295 reliably raises growth hormone and IGF-I for days in healthy adults. Whether that leads to any meaningful benefit, and how safe it is over months, has never been shown.
References
- 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;146:3052-3058. PMID 15817669
- 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;91:799-805. PMID 16352683
- 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:E1290-E1294. PMID 16822960
- 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;91:4792-4797. PMID 17018654
- 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;19:471-477. PMID 19386527
- Henninge J, et al. Identification of CJC-1295, a growth-hormone-releasing peptide, in an unknown pharmaceutical preparation. Drug Test Anal. 2010;2:647-650. PMID 21204297
- Van Hout MC, Hearne E. Netnography of female use of the synthetic growth hormone CJC-1295: pulses and potions. Subst Use Misuse. 2016;51:73-84. PMID 26771670
- Memdouh S, et al. Advances in the detection of growth hormone releasing hormone synthetic analogs. Drug Test Anal. 2021;13:1871-1887. PMID 34665524
- Mendias CL, Awan TM. Safety and efficacy of approved and unapproved peptide therapies for musculoskeletal injuries and athletic performance. Sports Med. 2026;56:1921-1935. PMID 41966639
- ConjuChem. A study to evaluate CJC 1295 in HIV patients with visceral obesity. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00267527.