CJC-1295: Two Compounds Under One Name

CJC-1295: Two Different Compounds Sold Under One Name

CJC-1295 with DAC has a half-life of days; CJC-1295 without DAC is modified GRF 1-29 and lasts minutes. Vendors sell both under one name. The difference is enormous.

Not approved anywhereTwo versions sold as one

Caroline S · Published 2026-09-07

Length

GHRH analogue, 30 amino acids

Sequence

Modified GRF (1-29), with or without DAC

Origin

Analogue of growth hormone releasing hormone

Last reviewed

2026-09-07

What is it good for?

Raising the body's own growth hormone output, by mimicking the hormone that tells the pituitary to release it. Which version is in the vial decides whether that push lasts minutes or days.

Illustration

The naming problem comes first

There are two different compounds sold as CJC-1295, and the difference between them is not small.

CJC-1295 with DAC carries a Drug Affinity Complex, which binds covalently to albumin in the blood after injection. Estimated half-life: 5.8 to 8.1 days.

CJC-1295 without DAC is really modified GRF (1-29). Half-life: 10 to 13 minutes.

That is a difference of roughly eight to eleven thousand times, between two products routinely listed under one name.

Any statement about how to use CJC-1295 — how often, how much, what to expect — is meaningless without knowing which of the two is in the vial. A schedule appropriate for a compound that clears in a quarter of an hour is nonsense for one that persists for a week, and the reverse.

What it is

Both versions are built on GRF (1-29) — the first 29 amino acids of growth hormone releasing hormone, which is the active part of the natural signal that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone.

So the mechanism is indirect. It does not supply growth hormone. It pushes the gland that makes it.

What the human research showed

This compound has more human data behind it than most of this library.

Published work in healthy adults reported prolonged stimulation of growth hormone and IGF-1 secretion by CJC-1295. A separate study found that the pituitary's natural pulsatile pattern of release persisted during continuous stimulation — which mattered, because losing that rhythm was a plausible concern for a long-acting analogue.

Animal work in a GHRH-knockout mouse found that once-daily administration normalised growth.

What the research did not show

That a hormone level moved is not the same as an outcome.

The human studies measured growth hormone and IGF-1. They were not designed to establish what follows for body composition, recovery, sleep, injury healing or ageing — which is what the compound is actually sold for. That gap is not a small one, and it is where nearly all of the marketing lives.

Where it stands

Approved as a medicine: nowhere.

FDA compounding status: appears among nominations withdrawn by the nominator, not on the current Category 2 list (page content current 2026-04-22).

Sold as: a research chemical, in both versions, frequently without the distinction being stated at all.

Related entries in this library: hexarelin works through the ghrelin receptor rather than the releasing-hormone receptor, and its human evidence sits entirely in the 1990s, before trial registries existed.

Last checked

2026-09-07.

What the research shows

Raising growth hormone and IGF-1 in people

Published human studies in healthy adults

The with-DAC version lasting days

Estimated half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days

Body composition or anti-ageing outcomes

A hormone change is not an outcome; not established

Bars show how much of the evidence is in humans, not how well anything works.

Where it stands

Approved as a medicine

Nowhere, for any use.

FDA compounding status

Appears among nominations withdrawn by the nominator, not on the current Category 2 list (page content current 2026-04-22).

The naming problem

'CJC-1295' properly means the version with DAC. Much of what is sold under that name is modified GRF (1-29) without DAC — a different compound with a half-life measured in minutes.

Sold as

A research chemical, in both versions, often without the distinction being stated.

Frequently asked questions

What is CJC-1295?

An analogue of growth hormone releasing hormone — the natural signal that tells the pituitary gland to release growth hormone. It is built on GRF (1-29), the first 29 amino acids of that hormone, which is the active part. The version properly called CJC-1295 also carries a Drug Affinity Complex, or DAC, which binds to albumin in the blood and makes it last far longer.

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

Time, by a factor of roughly ten thousand. With DAC, the estimated half-life is 5.8 to 8.1 days. Without DAC — which is really modified GRF (1-29) — the half-life generally does not exceed 10 to 13 minutes. One produces a steady elevation lasting days; the other produces a brief pulse. Selling both as 'CJC-1295' without saying which is in the vial makes any dosing information meaningless.

Does CJC-1295 raise growth hormone?

Published human work in healthy adults reported prolonged stimulation of growth hormone and IGF-1 secretion, so the hormonal effect is real and measured. One study also found that the pituitary's natural pulsatile pattern of release persisted during continuous stimulation, which was not a foregone conclusion.

Does raising growth hormone produce the results people want?

That is a separate question, and it is where the evidence thins. Measuring a hormone rise is not the same as showing a change in body composition, recovery, sleep or ageing. The human studies establish that the compound does what it is designed to do to a hormone level; they were not designed to establish what follows from that.

Is CJC-1295 approved?

No, nowhere, for anything. On the FDA's compounding page it appears among nominations that were withdrawn by the nominator, meaning no decision was reached rather than that it was cleared.