Peptide

CJC-1295

CJC-1295 (with or without DAC)

A GHRH analog engineered for a long half-life. Widely used in anti-aging clinics as a growth-hormone secretagogue. Died as a pharmaceutical program after a 2008 phase 2 death. Now a research chemical.

Editor approved

Summary Does CJC-1295 safely improve muscle, sleep, or healthy aging? Show / hide ↓

CJC-1295 is an experimental peptide, a short chain of amino acids, designed to make the body release more growth hormone. The long-lasting DAC version was tested in people, but its program stopped in 2008 after one participant died following a cardiovascular event, and it is unclear whether the drug caused the death. There are no completed modern human trials, and claims about fat loss, sleep, recovery, or muscle mainly come from user reports. The shorter no-DAC version is also used with ipamorelin, but this combination lacks good clinical evidence. Growth hormone can raise IGF-1, a growth-related blood marker, and its long-term safety remains uncertain.

What this means for you: There is not enough evidence to buy or use CJC-1295, especially after the terminated trial and reported death. The no-DAC version is not proven safer or effective.

weak evidence

Research snapshot No approved human use. Limited Phase 1 data only. Research chemical.

Updated 2026-10-01

CJC-1295 is a synthetic growth hormone-releasing hormone analog designed to increase growth hormone levels. A small human study showed increased GH and IGF-1, but no trials have evaluated long-term safety or clinical outcomes like body composition or muscle strength. It is not approved for any medical use.

Evidence tierTier 5, Mechanistic hypothesis, minimal human data

Typical doseCommunity protocol: CJC-1295 without DAC 100 mcg subcutaneous, paired with ipamorelin 200 to 300 mcg, once or twice daily. DAC form (once-weekly) less commonly used due to cardiovascular concerns from the failed trial.

SafetyHistorical phase 2 death, unresolved attribution. Sustained GH/IGF-1 elevation raises theoretical cancer risk. Injection site reactions and mild water retention are common. Monitor IGF-1.

CategoryGHRH analog (research)

Last verified2026-09-05

CJC-1295 is a cautionary tale in the peptide space. It was developed by ConjuChem in the early 2000s as a long-acting GHRH analog for HIV lipodystrophy and other cachexia indications. The DAC modification allowed once-weekly dosing, a real convenience advantage over daily tesamorelin.

The program collapsed in 2008. A patient in a phase 2 trial died, reported publicly as related to a cardiovascular event. ConjuChem shut down the program shortly after. The details of the death, and whether it was mechanistically attributable to CJC-1295, have not been fully resolved in the public literature. This is the reason CJC-1295 remains a research chemical rather than a marketed drug, despite being in the same GHRH-analog class as approved tesamorelin.

Inside the biohacker community, CJC-1295 became one of the two most-used GH-secretagogue peptides, alongside ipamorelin (a GHRP with a different receptor target). The typical combined protocol is CJC-1295 without DAC at 100 mcg plus ipamorelin at 200 to 300 mcg, subcutaneous once or twice per day, evening and morning. This approach uses the shorter-acting version to preserve pulsatile GH release, on the theory that continuous flat elevation from DAC-bound CJC-1295 is less physiologic and possibly less safe.

Efficacy data at community doses is anecdotal. In the anti-aging clinical community, users report modest reductions in visceral fat, improved recovery from exercise, deeper sleep, and modest muscle-mass gains over 3 to 6 month cycles. Objective measurements are rare outside individual clinic records.

On the theoretical safety side, sustained elevation of GH and IGF-1 raises long-term cancer surveillance concerns, particularly in populations with baseline risk. This is a theoretical rather than documented risk at typical community doses, but it is the reason mainstream endocrinology has not warmed to the biohacker approach.

Our position: CJC-1295 sits at Tier 5. The class works (tesamorelin proves that). This specific molecule failed clinical development after a fatal event, and the community-use base rests on user reports rather than trials. The Mod-GRF (no-DAC) version is safer in principle because it preserves physiologic pulsatility, but it also has less trial data than the DAC-bound form that killed the program.

2026 evidence and regulatory refresh

CJC-1295 has genuine dose-response human pharmacokinetic data confirming sustained growth-hormone elevation, but it sits in a regulatory gap: removed from FDA's restricted list yet not authorized for compounding and absent from both 2026 PCAC rosters.

Verified 2026-08-06. We update this section as PCAC decisions, ClinicalTrials.gov entries, and new peer-reviewed studies land.

FDA / PCAC (July 2026)

Not reviewed at July 2026 PCAC meeting. The July 23-24, 2026 agenda covered BPC-157, TB-500, MOTS-c, KPV, Emideltide (DSIP), Semax, and Epitalon; CJC-1295 was not on the roster, per the Federal Register notice published April 16, 2026 (https://www.peptidefactcheck.com/articles/cjc-1295-is-off-the-restricted-list-the-fda-s-july-review-went-to-everyone-else). It is also absent from the second PCAC batch announced for before February 2027.

US status

Removed from FDA's Category 2 restricted-substance list in spring 2026 after a lawsuit by Evexias Medical Group and Farmakeio Outsourcing over the nomination process, but not placed on Category 1, meaning it has no formal 503A compounding authorization; it remains legally sold as a research chemical (https://www.peptidefactcheck.com/articles/cjc-1295-is-off-the-restricted-list-the-fda-s-july-review-went-to-everyone-else).

EU status

Not authorised for human use in EU as of 2026.

Human RCT base

peer-reviewed randomised trials

Largest human study

n = 11

Interventional before-and-after study with proteomic analysis in healthy young men. A single subcutaneous injection (60-90 mcg/kg) increased serum growth hormone and IGF-1 one week later and produced significant changes in five identified serum protein spots, none with a clarified mechanistic role. source

Best-supported claim

Two placebo-controlled, double-blind, ascending-dose trials (28 and 49 days) in healthy adults aged 21-61 found that CJC-1295 produced dose-dependent 2- to 10-fold increases in growth hormone lasting 6+ days, and 1.5- to 3-fold increases in IGF-1 lasting 9-11 days after a single injection, with no serious adverse reactions reported at 30-60 mcg/kg doses (https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/91/3/799/2843281). This is genuine controlled human pharmacokinetic and safety data, stronger than what exists for most peptides in this set, though the trials measured hormone levels and biomarkers, not long-term clinical outcomes like body composition or performance.

Not supported by the evidence base

Wellness clinics and forums market CJC-1295 as a proven muscle-building, fat-loss, and anti-aging therapy based on its GH/IGF-1-elevating mechanism, but the only controlled human trials measured hormone levels over 28-49 days, not body composition, strength, or longevity outcomes (https://www.undergroundbiohacking.com/blog/cjc-ipamorelin-will-dominate-2026). No RCT has tested CJC-1295 against clinical endpoints like lean mass, fat mass, or mortality. The DAC (Drug Affinity Complex) long-acting formulation sold widely online has not been directly tested in the published dose-escalation trials in the same detail as shorter-acting formulations, and vendors rarely distinguish between formulations when citing this data.

Typical usage

30-60 mcg/kg subcutaneous injection (in the studied dose-escalation protocol), or 1-2 mg subcutaneous 1-2 times weekly for the long-acting DAC formulation in wellness clinic protocols, typically in 8-12 week cycles; clinical trial dosing and typical wellness-clinic dosing differ and are not directly interchangeable.

Safety

Controlled trials in healthy adults reported no serious adverse reactions at 30-60 mcg/kg doses over 28-49 days (https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/91/3/799/2843281). Long-term safety beyond several weeks has not been studied in a controlled trial. Sustained GH/IGF-1 elevation raises theoretical concern for acromegaly-like effects, insulin resistance, and, in principle, growth stimulation of existing tumors with chronic unsupervised use; anyone with active cancer or diabetes should avoid it outside medical supervision. FDA's own presentation materials on CJC-1295 flag it among GH-secretagogue peptides warranting continued safety scrutiny despite its removal from the restricted list (https://downloads.regulations.gov/FDA-2024-N-4777-0009/attachment_6.pdf).

Interactions worth flagging

Theoretical additive effect with other GH secretagogues (e.g., ipamorelin, MK-677) commonly stacked with CJC-1295
Risk of worsened insulin resistance when combined with corticosteroids or in people with diabetes
No formal drug-interaction studies exist beyond the short-term dose-escalation trials

Three recent studies to know

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

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2006 · n =

Dose-dependent increases in GH (2-10 fold) and IGF-1 (1.5-3 fold) lasting 6-11 days after single or multiple doses, with no serious adverse reactions, in two placebo-controlled ascending-dose trials.
Read study →
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 Hormone & IGF Research 2009 · n = 11

A single injection raised GH and IGF-1 one week later and altered five serum protein spots including apolipoprotein A-I and transthyretin isoforms.
Read study →
CJC-1295 Is Off the Restricted List. The FDA's July Review Went to Everyone Else.

Peptide FactCheck (regulatory analysis) 2026 · n = n/a

CJC-1295 was removed from FDA's Category 2 restricted list in spring 2026 but was not placed on Category 1 and was absent from both the July 2026 and planned February 2027 PCAC review rosters.
Read study →