Growth hormone secretagogues · Investigational

CJC-1295: Twenty Years of Claims Resting on a 49-Day Blood Test

The only efficacy trial CJC-1295 ever entered was terminated in 2006 and never reported a result. Everything claimed since rests on a 49-day study that measured hormones in the blood and no clinical outcome at all.

Compiled by the PeptideCare Finder editorial team · Published 2026-08-05 · Updated 2026-07-28 · Not independently reviewed by a clinician
Regulatory and anti-doping status
FDA-approved use
None. No approved product, no approved indication, and no historical approval that was later withdrawn. It has never completed clinical development anywhere.
Classification here
Investigational
Compounding status
Not on the 503A Bulks List. Nominated and then withdrawn by the nominator; FDA lists it under "bulk drug substances nominated but withdrawn" and continues to publish its risk language. It was not among the substances reconsidered at the July 2026 advisory committee meeting.
Anti-doping status
Prohibited at all times — WADA 2026 Prohibited List, section S2.2.4, named explicitly among growth hormone releasing factors.

Every line above is re-verified against the primary agency source before each update. What the July 2026 FDA vote did and did not do →

What CJC-1295 is

CJC-1295 is a synthetic, chemically modified analogue of growth-hormone-releasing hormone, designed to resist breakdown and persist in the bloodstream far longer than the natural hormone. In its DAC form it binds to serum albumin, extending its half-life to days rather than minutes.

What the human studies measured

Two randomised placebo-controlled ascending-dose trials in healthy adults, running 28 and 49 days, published in 2006. They reported that growth hormone rose two- to ten-fold for six days or more after a single injection and IGF-1 rose one-and-a-half to three-fold for nine to eleven days. Those are pharmacokinetic and biomarker outcomes. No clinical endpoint — no body composition, no strength, no function, no symptom — was assessed in either trial.

The trial that would have answered the question

One phase 2 efficacy trial was registered: a multicentre randomised placebo-controlled double-blind study of CJC-1295 over twelve weeks in HIV-associated visceral obesity, planned for 120 participants, run from late 2005 to late 2006. It was terminated. The registry records no reason, and no results were ever posted. Development stopped there, twenty years ago.

What FDA says about safety

FDA’s published risk language states 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. The 2006 trials described the compound as relatively well tolerated, but they ran under fifty days in a few dozen healthy volunteers and measured no long-term endpoint. There is no controlled human safety data beyond that window.

How far up the evidence hierarchy this reaches

Registered human trials exist, which places it above the purely preclinical substances — but they measured hormone levels, not outcomes, and the one trial designed to measure an outcome was terminated without reporting.

FDA-approved label
Adverse reactions observed in trials of known size, in a defined population.
Registered human trials This substance reaches here
Useful — but read the size. A few dozen participants cannot detect an uncommon harm.
Animal and in-vitro work
Where the literature for most marketed peptides actually sits. Not evidence of human benefit.
Testimonials and forums
Not evidence. Systematically under-reports harm.
Where a substance's best available evidence sits matters more than any claim made about it.

Where it sits on the compounding pathway

01
Nominated
Someone proposes the substance for compounding use.
02
Category 2
FDA flags significant safety risks pending evaluation.
03 Here
Nomination withdrawn
The nominator pulls it. FDA still publishes its risk language.
04
Advisory committee
A non-binding recommendation. Not a decision.
05
On the 503A Bulks List
The only stage that confers authority. Reached by rulemaking.
As of August 2026 no peptide has reached stage 05. Coverage routinely reports stage 04 as though it were stage 05.

What it is sold for, against what the evidence shows

Marketing claims on the left, in the terms sellers use. What the human literature actually supports on the right.

Marketed forWhat the evidence showsVerdict
Raising growth hormone and IGF-1 Confirmed in randomised placebo-controlled phase 1 trials. This is a blood-marker result only. Partly supported
Fat loss and reducing visceral fat The one phase 2 trial designed to test exactly this was terminated with no results published. No human evidence
Muscle growth, strength, recovery Murine data only. No human trials. No human evidence
Anti-ageing, sleep quality, skin, energy No human trials for any of these endpoints. No human evidence
"Safe, well tolerated, no side effects" FDA has identified serious adverse events including increased heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reaction, and states clinical data are limited. Contradicted
Acceptable for competitive athletes Named explicitly on the WADA Prohibited List. Prohibited at all times. Contradicted

Where to go next

What this guide deliberately omits

No dosing, cycling, stacking, reconstitution or administration instructions appear anywhere on this site, and this page links to no page selling an unapproved injectable. Questions about how a substance would be used belong with a licensed clinician who has evaluated you.

Sources

  1. Teichman SL et al. Prolonged stimulation of GH and IGF-I secretion by CJC-1295 in healthy adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2006
  2. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00267527 — CJC-1295 in HIV patients with visceral obesity (terminated)
  3. FDA — Certain bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks
  4. WADA — 2026 Prohibited List, section S2.2.4