A long-acting copy of growth hormone-releasing hormone that attaches itself to albumin in the blood so a single injection keeps prompting the pituitary for about a week. Small studies in healthy adults two decades ago showed it raises growth hormone and IGF-1 for days, but its drug development stopped, it is not approved, and the FDA has flagged compounded versions as a safety risk.
CJC-1295 is a modified fragment of growth hormone-releasing hormone, the first 29 amino acids, with a reactive chemical group added at one end. After injection that group bonds to albumin, the main protein in blood, so the peptide escapes the rapid breakdown that limits natural GHRH to minutes of action. Bound to albumin, it keeps stimulating the pituitary's GHRH receptors, which release growth hormone, which in turn raises IGF-1. In rats the bound form was still detectable beyond 72 hours.
Injected under skin (1/7)
CJC-1295, the first 29 amino acids of GHRH, is injected under the skin.
In healthy adults a single injection raised average growth hormone 2- to 10-fold for 6 days or more and IGF-1 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days, with a half-life of about 6 to 8 days. Growth hormone kept its natural pulses, but the troughs between pulses rose about 7.5-fold, and that raised baseline is what drove IGF-1 up. In mice lacking their own GHRH, daily doses normalized growth and increased the number of pituitary growth hormone cells. What continuous stimulation does to the pituitary over months or years in people has not been studied.
CJC-1295 is sold online and by some compounders for muscle gain, fat loss, recovery, and anti-aging claims. Its only human research is in healthy adults, where it raised growth hormone and IGF-1 levels, and a phase 2 trial in people with HIV and excess belly fat that was terminated in 2006. No study has shown that it builds muscle, burns fat, or speeds recovery in anyone. Those marketed claims borrow from the known effects of growth hormone itself.
In the studies it was injected under the skin once a week or every two weeks, and the molecule was designed so it binds to albumin after injection and lingers for days. The company trial in HIV patients was terminated in 2006 and no further development followed. What is sold today comes from research-chemical vendors or compounding pharmacies and has not been shown to match the studied material. The FDA has linked CJC-1295 to serious adverse events, among them increased heart rate and a body-wide blood-vessel dilation reaction, and says available clinical data are limited.
The human evidence is two small randomized, placebo-controlled dose studies in healthy adults lasting 28 and 49 days, a pulsatility study in healthy men, and one terminated phase 2 trial. Those studies measured hormones rather than outcomes: growth hormone and IGF-1 rose and stayed up for days after each dose. The phase 2 trial planned to treat 120 HIV patients with visceral obesity for 12 weeks but was terminated in 2006 without published results. The rest of the literature is rat and mouse pharmacology.
No controlled trial has ever tested whether CJC-1295 changes muscle, fat, strength, recovery, or any health outcome in people. Whether raised IGF-1 over months is safe, especially for tumor growth, is unstudied. Nothing links the marketed products to the studied material in identity or purity. The FDA reviewed CJC-1295 as a candidate for compounding and lists compounded versions among substances that may present significant safety risks.
In the healthy-volunteer studies no serious adverse reactions were reported, and the drug was described as relatively well tolerated at the lower doses. The FDA, reviewing it for compounding, identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction, and noted that clinical data are limited. Like other growth hormone stimulators it raises IGF-1 for days at a time, with unknown long-term consequences. Products sold online carry the added risks of immune reactions to impurities and uncertain dosing that the FDA has flagged.
No regulator has approved this compound, and no company is seeking approval.
CJC-1295 is not approved by the FDA or any other regulator, and its drug development ended after a terminated 2006 trial. The FDA lists compounded drugs containing CJC-1295 among bulk substances that may present significant safety risks, citing immunogenicity, peptide impurities, and reports of increased heart rate and systemic vasodilation. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits GHRH analogs including CJC-1295. Health Canada and Australia's TGA name it among unapproved injectable peptides seized or promoted online.