CJC-1295 Peptide: How It Works and the Research

What is CJC-1295?

CJC-1295 is a modified version of GHRH(1-29), the first 29 amino acids of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), with four of them swapped. GHRH is the hormone that tells the pituitary gland to make and release growth hormone.

Sources: Jette 2005; FDA briefing 2024; Sackmann-Sala 2009.

The original form, with DAC, was identified in 2005 by the Montreal company ConjuChem. It has one more piece at the end of the chain, a modified lysine called MPA-Lys, which FDA calls the drug affinity complex, or DAC. The DAC is designed to bind albumin in the blood so the peptide stays there longer.

Sources: Jette 2005; FDA briefing 2024.

How does CJC-1295 work?

CJC-1295 is built to act like GHRH(1-29), which switches on GHRH receptors on the pituitary cells that make growth hormone, prompting its release.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

Natural GHRH does not last long: after an IV injection in healthy people, the intact hormone had a half-life of 6.8 minutes. FDA says ConjuChem made the DAC form to get around the short half-life of GHRH(1-29).

Sources: Frohman 1986; FDA briefing 2024.

In rats, the DAC form bound to albumin within 15 minutes and was still in the plasma more than 72 hours later.

Sources: Jette 2005.

FDA adds two caveats: the DAC could also bind proteins other than albumin, and direct evidence is lacking that albumin binding explains the DAC form's greater stability.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

For how it compares with other growth hormone peptides, see growth hormone peptides explained.

CJC-1295 with DAC vs without DAC (Mod GRF 1-29)

The two forms are different molecules, and FDA says they are not interchangeable.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

CJC-1295 with DAC is the 2005 compound. The form without DAC, which FDA calls CJC-1295 (free base), is the same 29 amino acid peptide minus the MPA-Lys piece. It also goes by Mod GRF 1-29.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024; Dominikowski 2026.

FDA found no pharmacology studies of the form without DAC, and says the DAC form's pharmacology cannot be assumed to apply to it. Per FDA, its first known mention in the literature is a 2010 report that identified it in an unknown product sent to Norway's doping control lab. For a side-by-side table, see the DAC comparison on the CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin page.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024; Henninge 2010.

What did the human studies of CJC-1295 report?

FDA found three published human studies, all in healthy volunteers and all using the DAC form.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

After one injection in the Teichman trials, mean growth hormone rose 2 to 10-fold, depending on the dose, for 6 days or more. Mean IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) rose 1.5 to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days. With repeated injections, mean IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days.

Sources: Teichman 2006.

Ionescu and Frohman found that growth hormone kept its natural pulses, with no change in their frequency or size. Trough growth hormone (the level between pulses) rose 7.5-fold, mean growth hormone 46 percent and IGF-1 45 percent. That study used the DAC form.

Sources: Ionescu and Frohman 2006.

The Teichman trials estimated the half-life at 5.8 to 8.1 days. Ionescu and Frohman give 8 days as background, not as a new measurement. Both figures describe the DAC form. For both peptides in the blend, see CJC-1295 and ipamorelin half-life.

Sources: Teichman 2006.

The Teichman authors reported no serious adverse reactions. Still, FDA's summary of the paper counts adverse events in 33 of the 35 people given CJC-1295 in the first trial, with injection-site reactions in about 70 percent.

Sources: Teichman 2006; FDA briefing 2024.

FDA calls two effects from these studies serious. One is a faster heart rate, which rose with dose in the Ionescu and Frohman study. The other is a vasodilatory reaction: flushing, warmth and brief low blood pressure in 30 percent of people in the first Teichman trial.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024; FDA safety-risk list 2026.

In all, FDA counts 63 healthy adults, 87 percent of them men, and its search found no published study in people with a disease or condition. A Phase 2 trial in people with HIV-associated visceral obesity began in December 2005 and is listed as terminated.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024; NCT00267527.

FDA says ConjuChem withdrew CJC-1295 DAC from clinical trials in 2006 after a participant in a Phase 2 trial died. It cites anecdotal reports of a heart attack, which the treating doctor attributed to probable underlying coronary artery disease, and says the data have not been published.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

Is CJC-1295 approved?

No. No form of CJC-1295 is part of an FDA-approved drug.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

Sources: FDA minutes 2024; FDA safety-risk list 2026; FDA briefing 2024; WADA 2026; Poisons Standard 2026.

Besides a faster heart rate and a vasodilatory reaction, FDA's safety-risk list cites possible immune reactions, peptide-related impurities and trouble characterizing the active ingredient, and notes that clinical data are limited.

Sources: FDA safety-risk list 2026.

Among growth hormone secretagogues like CJC-1295, FDA says only sermorelin (Geref) was approved to treat short stature linked to growth hormone deficiency in children. None has been approved to treat growth hormone deficiency in adults. Tesamorelin (Egrifta) has been FDA-approved for a different use, in adults with HIV and lipodystrophy. For side-by-side comparisons, see CJC-1295 vs sermorelin and tesamorelin vs CJC-1295.

Sources: FDA briefing 2024.

CJC-1295 with ipamorelin

For CJC-1295 paired with ipamorelin, a separate peptide, see the CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin complete guide and CJC-1295 vs ipamorelin. Peptara Labs supplies the CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin blend for laboratory research use only.