Growth & GHPeptideEvidence CCurated profile

CJC-1295 (No DAC)

Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone Analog

aka Mod GRF 1-29

A modified GHRH analog with a short half-life. Commonly paired with a GHRP in research protocols to study pulsatile GH release.

Molecular wt

3367.9 g/molg/mol

Half-life

30 min

clinical

Tmax

30 min

Route

Subcutaneous injection

Sequence

One-letter27 residues

Y-(D-Ala)-DAIFTQSYRKVLAQLSARKLLQDILSR-NH2

Three-letter

Tyr-D-Ala-Asp-Ala-Ile-Phe-Thr-Gln-Ser-Tyr-Arg-Lys-Val-Leu-Ala-Gln-Leu-Ser-Ala-Arg-Lys-Leu-Leu-Gln-Asp-Ile-Leu-Ser-Arg-NH2

Read this before quoting the sequence

Also called modified GRF (1-29) or mod GRF 1-29: human GHRH(1-29) amide (YADAIFTNSYRKVLGQLSARKLLQDIMSR-NH2, from UniProt P01286 somatoliberin) carrying four substitutions - D-Ala at position 2, Gln at 8, Ala at 15 and Leu at 27. It lacks the Lys30 Nepsilon-maleimidopropionyl 'drug affinity complex' (DAC) group that defines CJC-1295 with DAC. IMPORTANT: this sequence is assembled from the GHRH(1-29) backbone (UniProt) plus the substitution pattern described on the Wikipedia CJC-1295 article; no primary peer-reviewed paper describing the no-DAC variant specifically was located, and PubChem has no record for it. Treat with lower confidence than the other sequences in this batch.

Source ↗

Mechanism of action

CJC-1295 (no DAC) is a synthetic analog of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). It binds to GHRH receptors on the pituitary gland, stimulating the release of growth hormone (GH). This increase in GH subsequently elevates insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, which are involved in growth and metabolism.

What the evidence actually shows

Grade C

There are limited human trials on CJC-1295 (no DAC). Some small studies suggest it can increase GH and IGF-1 levels, but larger, well-controlled trials are needed to confirm these effects and assess safety.

Regulatory status

Status

Not approved anywhere. In the US, CJC-1295 was nominated as a bulk drug substance for pharmacy compounding but appears in the FDA's 'nominated but withdrawn' table, meaning it is no longer under FDA consideration.

Clinical stage

No trial of the no-DAC variant is registered. The only registered CJC-1295 study found is NCT00267527 (phase 2, CJC-1295 in HIV patients with visceral obesity), which was TERMINATED.

research_compound

In the UK, CJC-1295 (no DAC) is not approved for medical use and is classified as a research compound.

Source ↗

Pharmacokinetics

Half-life

30 min

Tmax

30 min

Absorption

subcutaneous

Elimination

renal

Washout

1 days

Low-confidence pharmacokinetics

These figures are recorded as clinical rather than measured in a published PK study. Treat them as an order of magnitude. Anything downstream of them — accumulation, steady state, washout — inherits that uncertainty.

Dosing — what backs each figure

CJC-1295 without DAC has no published human dosing whatsoever. It is important not to conflate it with CJC-1295 with DAC, which is a genuinely different molecule: the DAC version binds covalently to albumin, has an ~8-day half-life, and was studied in humans at 30-250 mcg/kg (60 or 90 mcg/kg in the published GH pulsatility study) as single injections a week or more apart. The no-DAC version has a half-life of minutes, was never taken into a registered trial, and the only academic literature describing how people dose it is a study of bodybuilding forum posts.

Commonly circulatedNot established by any study

Dose: Research literature cites ~100 mcg per dose (often with a GHRP)
Frequency: 2-3x weekly
Cycle: 8-12 weeks· unsourced

Why this isn't evidence
No human or animal study has ever been published on CJC-1295 without DAC (also sold as modified GRF 1-29) — the only human CJC-1295 trials used the DAC-bearing molecule at 30-250 mcg/kg, a completely different pharmacokinetic entity — so the 100 mcg dose, the 2-3x weekly frequency and the 8-12 week cycle are all bodybuilding-forum convention, a point reinforced by the fact that the only peer-reviewed paper on CJC-1295 dosing practice is a 'netnography' study of internet forum threads.

This figure is shown because it is what circulates and what people search for — not because it is supported. Cycle lengths in particular tend to be convention copied between compounds rather than anything derived from a compound's own pharmacokinetics.

No established human dose

No approved label or completed human trial establishes a dosing regimen for this compound. Anything presented as a standard protocol for it — anywhere — is someone's convention rather than a finding.

Handling and storage

Lyophilized

Refrigerated 24 months

Reconstituted

Refrigerated, use within 14–21 days

→ Reconstitution walkthrough → Reconstitution calculator

Safety

Commonly reported

·Injection site reactions
·Water retention
·Headaches

Rarely reported

·Carpal tunnel syndrome
·Hypoglycemia

Contraindications

·Active malignancy
·Not for human therapeutic use — research chemical

Drug interactions

·Corticosteroids may blunt the GH response by increasing somatostatin release.

Flushing, water retention, injection-site reactions

Reported combinations

Reported as synergistic

·GHRP-6

Reported as antagonistic

·Somatostatin analogs

Combination claims in this dataset are largely unsourced and should be treated as folk knowledge until a citation appears beside them.

References (3)

Teichman SL, et al. (2006) 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. ↗
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and MetabolismPMID 16352683DOI
CAVEAT: this trial studied CJC-1295 WITH DAC, not the no-DAC variant. Healthy adults aged 21-61 received ascending single or repeated subcutaneous doses; mean plasma GH rose 2- to 10-fold for 6+ days and IGF-I 1.5- to 3-fold for 9-11 days, with an estimated half-life of 5.8-8.1 days. Doses of 30 or 60 microg/kg were described as relatively well tolerated. The long duration is attributable to the DAC albumin-binding group that the no-DAC variant does not have.
Ionescu M, Frohman LA. (2006) Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog. ↗
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and MetabolismPMID 17018654DOI
CAVEAT: also studied CJC-1295 WITH DAC (stated half-life 8 days). After a single injection, GH secretion remained pulsatile despite continuous GHRH-receptor stimulation.
Alba M, et al. (2006) Once-daily administration of CJC-1295, a long-acting growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog, normalizes growth in the GHRH knockout mouse. ↗
American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and MetabolismPMID 16822960DOI
CAVEAT: with-DAC compound. Once-daily CJC-1295 normalised growth in GHRH knockout mice, where twice-daily injections of a short-acting GHRH analogue had failed.

Data provenance

Chemistry and citations on this page were checked against primary sources on 2026-08-14. Values that could not be verified were left blank rather than filled with a plausible guess.

Could not verify
molecularFormula, molecularWeight, casNumber, pubchemCid, storage.lyophilized, storage.reconstituted, storage.lightSensitive, reconstitution.solvent, regulatory.wada

Research use only

This profile is educational reference material. It is not medical advice, not a prescription, and not an endorsement of self-administration. Compounds discussed here are research chemicals and most are not approved for human therapeutic use.

Related in Growth & GH

CJC-1295 (with DAC)

A long-acting GHRH analogue research describes as sustaining elevated GH levels for up to eight days per dose.

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GHRP-2

A second-generation GHS-R agonist that research associates with significant pulsatile growth hormone release.