CJC-1295

Origin and structure

CJC-1295 was designed by ConjuChem, a biotech company in Montreal, as a long-acting form of growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and first described in 2005. Its core is GRF(1-29), the first 29 amino acids of human GHRH. Four of those amino acids are swapped (D-alanine at position 2, glutamine at 8, alanine at 15 and leucine at 27) to make the chain harder for enzymes to cut.

The original molecule adds a lysine at the end that carries maleimidopropionic acid, the drug affinity complex or DAC. After injection this group forms a permanent bond with the free cysteine at position 34 of albumin, the most common protein in blood. Carried on albumin, the peptide escapes the rapid breakdown that clears natural GHRH from the blood within minutes.

"CJC-1295 without DAC" is a market name for the same four-times-substituted GRF(1-29) without the lysine linker, also sold as modified GRF 1-29 or Mod GRF. It shares the core but cannot bind albumin. CJC-1295 with DAC, CJC-1295 without DAC and the blend of the latter with ipamorelin each have their own article.

How it works

CJC-1295 activates the GHRH receptor on the growth-hormone-producing cells of the pituitary, so the pituitary releases more of its own growth hormone (GH); the liver responds by making more IGF-1. It is not growth hormone itself and depends on a working pituitary: in people whose pituitary makes no growth hormone at all, it has nothing to amplify.

Because the DAC form keeps stimulating the receptor for days, an open question was whether GH would lose its natural pulses. A 2006 study in 12 healthy men aged 20 to 40 found that it did not: a week after one injection, pulse frequency and size were unchanged, but the GH level between pulses had risen 7.5-fold, mean GH by 46% and IGF-1 by 45%, without IGF-1 exceeding the normal range in anyone.

Without albumin binding, the version without DAC is expected to act briefly, like other GRF(1-29) analogues. How long it actually lasts in humans has never been measured.

Is CJC-1295 approved?

No. Neither form has a marketing authorisation from the EMA, the FDA or any other regulator, so there is no approved dose, label or safety file. In the Netherlands no doctor can prescribe it as a registered medicine; it is only available as research material, which is the basis our shop operates on.

In the United States the question has been pharmacy compounding. The FDA placed CJC-1295 in Category 2 of its 503A list, the group with significant safety risks, and removed it in September 2024 after the pharmacies that had nominated it withdrew their nominations. The FDA then reviewed five forms on its own initiative. On 4 December 2024 the FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted against adding any of these five forms, with and without DAC, to the list of substances pharmacies may compound: 13 to 0 against for four of them and 12 to 1 against for the acetate salt of the form without DAC. The FDA still lists CJC-1295 among substances with significant safety risks, citing serious adverse events that include a raised heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reactions.

In sport it is prohibited at all times. The 2026 WADA Prohibited List names CJC-1295 explicitly under S2.2.4, growth-hormone-releasing factors, next to sermorelin and tesamorelin. The same list is the appendix to the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and took effect for the Netherlands on 1 January 2026.

What the research shows

All published human data come from three short studies of the DAC form from 2006 and 2009, in which 63 healthy adults, 87% of them men, received the drug. The two dose-finding trials were run by ConjuChem, and none of the studies measured muscle, fat loss, recovery, sleep or any other outcome the peptide is marketed for.

• Rats (Jetté et al., Endocrinology 2005): of three albumin-binding GRF(1-29) designs, CJC-1295 gave the largest response, about four times the two-hour GH output of plain GRF(1-29), and was still in the blood after 72 hours.
• GHRH-deficient mice (Alba et al., 2006): daily injections for five weeks gave mice that cannot make GHRH a normal body weight and length; injections every two or three days worked less well.
• Two dose-finding trials (Teichman et al., JCEM 2006): 66 healthy adults aged 21 to 61 at two sites, randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled, lasting 28 and 49 days. One injection raised mean GH 2- to 10-fold for at least six days and IGF-1 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days, with a half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days; IGF-1 rose above the normal range only after the highest single dose. After repeated doses IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days, with a cumulative effect.
• GH pulses (Ionescu and Frohman, JCEM 2006): in 12 healthy young men, GH kept its normal pulse pattern a week after one injection, while the level between pulses rose 7.5-fold and IGF-1 45%.
• Phase 2 trial (NCT00267527): a 12-week placebo-controlled trial in people with HIV-associated abdominal fat that had enrolled 192 participants. In July 2006 a participant at a site in Argentina developed chest pain about two hours after the 11th weekly dose and died of a heart attack an hour later. The treating physician considered undiagnosed coronary artery disease the most likely cause, and ConjuChem ended the trial. No results were published, and no other CJC-1295 trial appears in the registry.
• Without DAC: a 2026 review of growth-hormone-axis peptides (Dominikowski et al.) found no peer-reviewed human study of CJC-1295 without DAC and placed it in its lowest evidence tier, with IGF-1 LR3 and PEG-MGF.

With DAC versus without DAC

The two products share a name and the same 29-amino-acid core, but they are different molecules with different evidence. CJC-1295 with DAC is ConjuChem's original: it binds albumin, stays in the blood for about a week and is the only form ever given to people in a published trial. CJC-1295 without DAC lacks the albumin-binding linker; what is said about its short action, pulse-like effect or timing is extrapolated from older GRF(1-29) research and from user forums, not measured.

The mix-up is old. In 2009 Norwegian police and customs had a seized product analysed; it held a 29-amino-acid peptide without the DAC linker, matching what was being marketed as CJC-1295. The FDA's 2024 review calls this the first mention of the form without DAC in the scientific literature. A label alone does not show which molecule a vial holds; only an analysis of the sequence does.

Side effects and warnings

In the single-dose trial 94% of people on CJC-1295 reported an adverse event, against 29% on placebo; all were mild to moderate. Short-lived injection-site reactions occurred in about 70%, headache in 63%, diarrhoea in 43%, and flushing with warmth and a brief drop in blood pressure in 30%, mostly at the two highest doses. In the multiple-dose trial everyone on the active drug had an injection-site reaction, flushing followed 40% of low-dose and every high-dose injection, and two people had dizziness with low blood pressure after their first dose.

Neither trial reported a serious adverse reaction, a consistent change in glucose or significant antibody formation, but they lasted at most 49 days and most participants received a single dose. The FDA nonetheless lists serious adverse events, including a raised heart rate and systemic vasodilatory reactions, and the only longer trial was stopped after a participant died. In the animal studies the FDA reviewed, daily injections for up to 14 days caused bleeding, inflammation and tissue death at the injection site in rats and dogs.

The intended effect, keeping GH and IGF-1 raised for weeks, is also the main theoretical risk. With growth hormone itself, higher doses cause fluid retention, joint pain and glucose intolerance, and IGF-1 signalling is a theoretical concern for tumour growth. None of this has been studied for CJC-1295 over the long term, and the version without DAC has no human safety data at all.

Frequently asked questions

Is CJC-1295 legal in the Netherlands?

It is not a registered medicine and may not be sold or promoted for human use. It can be bought and sold as research material, which is the basis for our shop. Our guide on research-use-only products in the Netherlands explains what that status means. For athletes it is a doping substance at all times.

Is CJC-1295 banned in sport?

Yes, in and out of competition. The WADA list names CJC-1295 under S2.2.4 with the other growth-hormone-releasing factors, and the ban covers the form without DAC as a GHRH analogue too. See our guide on peptides and the doping list.

What is the difference between CJC-1295 with and without DAC?

Both share the same modified 29-amino-acid core. The DAC version has an extra linker that binds albumin, so it lasts about a week; it is the form that was tested in people. The version without DAC (modified GRF 1-29) lacks that linker, is expected to act for a short time and has never been studied in humans. Results for one say nothing reliable about the other.

Does CJC-1295 build muscle or burn fat?

Nobody knows. The human studies measured hormone levels, not muscle, fat or performance. The one trial that looked at fat, in people with HIV-related abdominal fat, was stopped in 2006 without results. What is said about body composition is extrapolated from the hormone changes, not measured.

Is CJC-1295 the same as sermorelin or tesamorelin?

No, although all three act on the GHRH receptor. Sermorelin is unmodified GRF(1-29); the FDA once approved it, as Geref, for short stature in children with growth-hormone deficiency. Tesamorelin is a GHRH analogue that the FDA approved (as Egrifta) to reduce excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV and lipodystrophy, the use CJC-1295 was being tested for. CJC-1295 never got that far.

Has CJC-1295 been studied with ipamorelin?

No. The popular pairing uses the form without DAC, which has no published human study of its own, so the combination has not been tested in people either. Our article on the CJC-1295 and ipamorelin blend covers what is known about each component.

Storage and handling

Store according to product-label instructions and batch handling notes. Lyophilized research peptides are commonly kept dry, protected from light, and handled with clean laboratory technique.

References

Checked against these sources on 28 October 2026.

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