CJC-1295 is a synthetic analogue of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). It is built on the first 29 amino acids of human GHRH — the shortest fragment that retains full biological activity at the GHRH receptor — with four amino acid substitutions that protect it from enzymatic breakdown, and, in the original form, a chemical linker that binds it to circulating albumin so that it persists in the blood for days rather than minutes.
The most important thing to understand about CJC-1295 is that the name is used for two different molecules. CJC-1295 with DAC carries the drug affinity complex — a maleimidopropionic acid group that forms a covalent bond with cysteine-34 of serum albumin after injection — and has a circulating half-life measured in days. CJC-1295 without DAC, more accurately called modified GRF(1-29), is the same tetrasubstituted peptide backbone without the albumin linker, and clears in minutes. The published human pharmacology is on the DAC form. The two are not interchangeable, and dosing figures cannot be read across from one to the other.
CJC-1295 was developed by ConjuChem Biotechnologies in the early 2000s. Two human studies in healthy adults were published in 2006, both in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, establishing pharmacokinetics, growth hormone and IGF-1 responses, and the observation that the natural pulsatile rhythm of GH secretion survives continuous receptor stimulation. Clinical development did not continue to registration, and CJC-1295 has never been approved by any regulator for any indication.
It is prohibited in sport. The World Anti-Doping Agency lists growth hormone-releasing factors, including GHRH analogues and their fragments, under section S2 of the Prohibited List — banned at all times, in and out of competition.
| Weeks | Dosage | Syringe units (U-100) |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | 0.3 mg | 12 units0.12 mL |
| Weeks 3–4 | 0.5 mg | 20 units0.2 mL |
| Weeks 5–6 | 0.75 mg | 30 units0.3 mL |
| Weeks 7–12 | 1 mg | 40 units0.4 mL |
FrequencyTwice weekly, subcutaneous.
For review — not the design of the cited study. Teichman et al. (2006) gave single ascending doses of 0.03 to 0.06 mg per kilogram of body weight of the DAC form to healthy adults, with weekly repeat dosing in one arm; the fixed-milligram twice-weekly titration in the chart is a circulated research protocol, not that study. The concentration strip above the chart is calculated from the vial and water volume and is correct.
Which form the vial contains changes this entirely, and the note that follows sets out why.
Everything charted here depends on which CJC-1295 the vial holds. The published human work cited below is on the DAC form, whose drug-affinity complex gives it a half-life measured in days; the modified GRF(1-29) fragment sold without DAC clears in minutes, has no human dose-ranging study of its own, and is dosed on a different rhythm entirely, so these rows should not be read across to it. Amounts are per injection rather than per day because the schedule is twice weekly, and they are body-weight-independent figures where the cited study dosed by kilogram — that substitution is the reason the chart is flagged. Athena supplies CJC-1295 only inside the 1:1 CJC-1295 + ipamorelin blend, whose vial holds 5 mg of it, so 5 mg is the strength charted here. Made up with 2 mL that is 2.5 mg/mL, which puts the 0.3 mg first step at 12 units and the 1 mg maintenance amount at 40 units, both inside one 50-unit syringe.
What this evidence establishes. The published human data covers CJC-1295 with DAC (the long-acting drug-affinity-complex form). The modified GRF(1-29) fragment sold without DAC has a half-life measured in minutes rather than days and has no published human dose-ranging study of its own, so the figures below should not be read across to it. Which form a vial contains changes the answer entirely.
Sources: Teichman et al., JCEM 2006 — safety, PK and PD of CJC-1295 in healthy adults
For educational and laboratory research purposes only. It does not provide medical advice, dosing recommendations, or instructions for human or veterinary use. Syringe units assume a U-100 syringe, on which 1 mL is 100 units and a 50-unit syringe holds 0.5 mL.
CJC-1295 acts one step upstream of growth hormone itself. Rather than supplying GH, it stimulates the pituitary's own somatotroph cells to release it, which leaves the physiological feedback loops — somatostatin restraint, IGF-1 negative feedback — structurally intact.
Binds the GHRH receptor on anterior pituitary somatotrophs, the same receptor the body's own GHRH uses, triggering GH synthesis and release.
D-Ala at position 2, Gln at 8, Ala at 15 and Leu at 27 protect the peptide from dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and other proteases that degrade native GHRH within minutes.
A maleimidopropionic acid linker reacts with cysteine-34 on serum albumin after injection, forming a covalent bioconjugate. Albumin's long residence time in circulation becomes the peptide's own.
Teichman and colleagues measured a terminal half-life of roughly 6 to 8 days for the DAC form in healthy adults. Native GHRH is cleared in single-digit minutes.
Ionescu and Frohman showed that GH release remained pulsatile during continuous CJC-1295 stimulation. The peptide raises the amplitude of pulses rather than flattening secretion into a plateau.
Because the signal enters at the pituitary rather than bypassing it, somatostatin tone and IGF-1 negative feedback still operate — a mechanistic difference from exogenous recombinant GH, not a demonstrated safety advantage.
Every published human pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic figure for CJC-1295 was generated with the DAC form. The modified GRF(1-29) fragment sold without DAC has the same receptor pharmacology but a completely different exposure profile: a short pulse of receptor activation rather than a sustained elevation over days. It has no human dose-ranging study of its own. Any statement about duration, frequency or IGF-1 response that is true of the DAC form is not automatically true of the fragment, and a vial labelled simply "CJC-1295" does not tell you which one it contains.
The human evidence for CJC-1295 is two single-centre pharmacology studies in healthy volunteers, published in the same year by investigators connected to the developer, using surrogate endpoints — GH concentration, IGF-1 concentration, half-life. Those are the right endpoints for a Phase 1 pharmacology study and the wrong ones for any claim about a clinical outcome. No trial has measured body composition, muscle strength, bone density, sleep quality, recovery, injury healing or any patient-reported outcome. No trial has run longer than the observation window needed to characterise a single dose.
Long-term safety is unstudied. Chronic elevation of the GH/IGF-1 axis is a legitimate area of concern — IGF-1 concentrations at the upper end of the normal range are associated with increased risk of several common cancers in observational meta-analysis — and no CJC-1295 study was designed or powered to detect anything of that kind. Nothing here demonstrates harm from CJC-1295; the point is that the studies that could detect it have not been done.
CJC-1295 has no approved label and therefore no regulator-reviewed contraindication list. What follows is drawn from GHRH-analogue class pharmacology and from the labelled contraindications of tesamorelin, the one approved GHRH analogue, where the mechanism is shared.
| Condition / Factor | Risk Level | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Active malignancy | CONTRAINDICATED | Raising GH and IGF-1 in the presence of active cancer is contraindicated across the GHRH-analogue class. IGF-1 is mitogenic and anti-apoptotic; the approved GHRH analogue carries this contraindication on its label. |
| Pituitary tumour or prior hypothalamic-pituitary irradiation or surgery | CONTRAINDICATED | Class contraindication for GHRH analogues. The drug acts directly on pituitary somatotrophs. |
| Pregnancy | CONTRAINDICATED | Class contraindication. No reproductive safety data exist for CJC-1295. |
| Diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance | HIGH CAUTION | Growth hormone antagonises insulin action. Glucose intolerance is a recognised effect of GH-axis stimulation and is monitored on the approved analogue's label. |
| Elevated baseline IGF-1 | HIGH CAUTION | Higher circulating IGF-1 is associated in meta-analysis with increased risk of certain common cancers. Adding sustained stimulation on top of an already-high baseline compounds an unquantified risk. |
| Unknown DAC status of the material | MODERATE | The two forms differ in half-life by orders of magnitude. Applying a DAC-form schedule to the fragment, or the reverse, produces an exposure profile no study has characterised. |
| Injection-site and vasomotor reactions | COMMON, MILD | Transient injection-site reactions and flushing were the predominant adverse events in the published single-dose human study. |
| Competitive athletes | PROHIBITED | Growth hormone-releasing factors including GHRH analogues are prohibited at all times under WADA Prohibited List section S2. |
FDA: CJC-1295 is not approved for any indication in the United States and has no marketing authorisation anywhere. It is not a compounding-eligible substance and has been the subject of FDA attention as an unapproved drug marketed under research-chemical labelling.
WADA: prohibited at all times, in and out of competition, under section S2 (Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics), which explicitly covers growth hormone-releasing hormone and its analogues.
Approved alternative in the class: tesamorelin is an FDA-approved GHRH analogue with a completed Phase 3 programme, a label, a defined indication and post-marketing surveillance. It exists as a point of comparison: the difference between CJC-1295 and tesamorelin is not chemistry but evidence.
Test your understanding of the DAC distinction, what the two 2006 human studies actually measured, and where the evidence ends.
This profile is for educational and research purposes only. It is not medical advice, and nothing on it is a protocol, a recommendation, or an instruction for use in a person or an animal.
Athena Peptides Education does not prescribe, sell, or recommend any compound. Compounds discussed here are for laboratory research only and are not for human consumption. Always consult a qualified physician before making any decision about your health.