CJC-1295 Ipamorelin Dosage: Doses Used in Published Trials

The doses, in one table

Searches for "CJC-1295 ipamorelin dosage" run to about 8,100 a month in the United States, and almost every page that answers them quotes a number without saying where it came from. The published record is short enough to print in full.

Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

Compound	Study	Route	Dose	Schedule	Subjects
CJC-1295 DAC	Teichman 2006, study 1 [Teichman et al., 2006]	subcutaneous	four ascending single doses; 30 and 60 µg/kg named as best tolerated	once, 28-day follow-up	healthy adults, 21 to 61
CJC-1295 DAC	Teichman 2006, study 2 [Teichman et al., 2006]	subcutaneous	not itemised in the abstract	2 or 3 doses, weekly or biweekly, 49-day follow-up	healthy adults
CJC-1295 DAC	Ionescu 2006 [Ionescu et al., 2006]	subcutaneous	60 or 90 µg/kg	once, sampled 1 week later	healthy men, 20 to 40
Ipamorelin	Gobburu 1999 [Gobburu et al., 1999]	intravenous, 15-min infusion	4.21, 14.02, 42.13, 84.27, 140.45 nmol/kg	once per level	8 healthy men per level
Ipamorelin	Beck 2014 [Beck et al., 2014]	intravenous	0.03 mg/kg	twice daily, up to 7 days	114 bowel-resection patients
Ipamorelin	Helsinn 2011 registry [Helsinn et al., 2011]	intravenous	0.03 mg/kg BID, 0.06 mg/kg BID, 0.06 mg/kg TID	up to 7 days	320 patients, results not posted
GHRH(1-29), the linker-free parent	Corpas 1992 [Corpas et al., 1992]	subcutaneous	0.5 mg and 1 mg	twice daily, 14 days	10 men, mean age 68

Two absences are as informative as the rows. There is no subcutaneous ipamorelin study in humans, and there is no human study of the linker-free CJC-1295 that fills most research vials. The closest published relative of the latter is the unmodified GHRH(1-29) sequence, which Corpas and colleagues had to inject twice a day to hold GH and IGF-1 up in older men [Corpas et al., 1992].

CJC-1295: what 60 µg/kg did, and for how long

The Teichman trials are the only dose-ranging data on CJC-1295 in people. Their design was conventional: two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, one of 28 days after a single injection, one of 49 days after two or three injections spaced a week or two apart. After one injection, mean plasma GH rose 2 to 10-fold depending on dose and stayed up for 6 days or more; IGF-1 rose 1.5 to 3-fold and stayed up for 9 to 11 days.

After the repeated doses, IGF-1 remained above baseline for up to 28 days, which the authors read as a cumulative effect. The estimated half-life was 5.8 to 8.1 days, and the conclusion singled out 30 and 60 µg/kg as the doses that were "safe and relatively well tolerated" [Teichman et al., 2006].

Teichman et al., 2006 (doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536): single subcutaneous doses in healthy adults aged 21 to 61, then two or three weekly or biweekly doses. The bars mark the durations stated in the abstract; the fold ranges span the four dose levels.

For scale, 60 µg/kg in a 75 kg adult is 4.5 mg of peptide in one injection, and 90 µg/kg is 6.75 mg. Ionescu and Frohman used those two doses in the follow-up study and found no significant difference between them on any GH parameter: trough GH rose 7.5-fold, mean GH 46 %, IGF-1 45 %, with no change in pulse frequency or amplitude [Ionescu et al., 2006]. The dose-response had flattened by then, which is consistent with a receptor that is already saturated when the peptide sits on albumin for a week. The full comparison of the two CJC-1295 forms is in CJC-1295 DAC versus no DAC.

Ipamorelin: intravenous only, and never for GH as an endpoint

The human ipamorelin doses come from a different world. Gobburu and colleagues infused it over 15 minutes at five rates from 4.21 to 140.45 nmol/kg (about 3 to 100 µg/kg, ipamorelin weighing 711.9 g/mol) in eight healthy men per level. Pharmacokinetics were dose-proportional, the terminal half-life was 2 hours, clearance 0.078 l/h/kg, and at every dose GH rose in a single episode that peaked at 0.67 hours and then fell back to negligible levels; the concentration giving half-maximal GH stimulation was 214 nmol/l [Gobburu et al., 1999].

The two phase 2 trials that followed, run by Helsinn, did not measure GH at all. They tested whether a ghrelin-receptor agonist could shorten postoperative ileus after bowel surgery. Beck's proof-of-concept trial gave 0.03 mg/kg intravenously twice daily for up to 7 days to 114 analysed patients; median time to a first tolerated meal was 25.3 hours against 32.6 with placebo, not significant (p = 0.15), and treatment-emergent adverse events were reported in 87.5 % of the ipamorelin group and 94.8 % of the placebo group [Beck et al., 2014].

The larger dose-finding trial added 0.06 mg/kg twice and three times daily in 320 patients; it is marked completed on the registry with no results posted [Helsinn et al., 2011]. The molecule's story is told in full in ipamorelin peptide.

The combination: no trial, so no dose

No peer-reviewed study has administered CJC-1295 and ipamorelin together to people. The idea of pairing a GHRH analogue with a GHRP comes from Bowers' 1990 experiment in 18 men, which used GHRH(1-44) and GHRP-6: submaximal GHRP-6 at 0.1 and 0.3 µg/kg plus 1 µg/kg GHRH released GH synergistically [Bowers et al., 1990]. That study is the ancestor of every "stack", and its doses belong to two different molecules from the two in the blend. Any milligram figure attached to "CJC-1295 ipamorelin dosage" on a clinic page or a forum is therefore an inference, and this site does not add one of its own.

Reading the units

µg/kg is what the trials report; a number in milligrams only makes sense once multiplied by a body weight. 60 µg/kg is 4.5 mg at 75 kg and 6 mg at 100 kg.
nmol/kg (Gobburu) converts to mass by the molar mass: 140.45 nmol/kg × 711.9 g/mol is about 100 µg/kg of ipamorelin.
Equal mass is not equal molarity. In a 5 mg + 5 mg blend, 5 mg of Mod GRF 1-29 (3,367.9 g/mol) is 1.5 µmol and 5 mg of ipamorelin (711.9 g/mol) is 7.0 µmol; the molar ratio is about 1 to 4.7.
Intravenous and subcutaneous are not interchangeable. Every human ipamorelin figure above is intravenous; the CJC-1295 figures are subcutaneous.

What the animal doses add

Animal studies do not supply human doses, but two of them explain features of the human data. In GHRH-knockout mice, 2 µg of CJC-1295 every 24 hours normalised growth over 5 weeks, while the same dose every 48 or 72 hours did not, and the pituitaries of treated animals showed more GH mRNA and more somatotroph cells [Alba et al., 2006]: the linker prolongs exposure, but a mouse clears it faster than a person does.

In adult female rats, ipamorelin at 18, 90 and 450 µg/day, split into three injections for 15 days, raised the longitudinal bone growth rate from 42 to 44, 50 and 52 µm/day without changing total IGF-1, and the pituitary GH response to a test dose was marginally reduced afterwards [Johansen et al., 1999]. That last observation is the earliest published hint of ghrelin-receptor desensitisation with repeated dosing, discussed under ipamorelin side effects.

The record ends there. If a page quotes a dose for the pair that is not in the table above, it is not from a trial.

Sources

Each DOI below returned HTTP 200 on api.crossref.org and each NCT number on clinicaltrials.gov when this page was last updated. Nothing is cited from memory.

Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA (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. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 91(3):799-805. doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536CrossRef 200
Two randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind ascending-dose trials (28 and 49 days) in healthy adults aged 21 to 61. Four ascending single doses in the first study (30 and 60 µg/kg named as the best tolerated); two or three weekly or biweekly doses in the second. Half-life 5.8 to 8.1 days.1
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. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 91(12):4792-4797. doi:10.1210/jc.2006-1702CrossRef 200
Overnight 12-hour sampling every 20 minutes in healthy men aged 20 to 40, before and one week after a single 60 or 90 µg/kg injection. Trough GH up 7.5-fold, mean GH up 46 %, IGF-1 up 45 %, pulse frequency and amplitude unchanged.2
Gobburu JV, Agersø H, Jusko WJ, Ynddal L (1999). Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers. Pharmaceutical Research 16(9):1412-1416. doi:10.1023/A:1018955126402CrossRef 200
Five intravenous infusion rates (4.21 to 140.45 nmol/kg over 15 minutes) in eight healthy men per dose level. Terminal half-life 2 hours, clearance 0.078 l/h/kg, one GH episode peaking at 0.67 hours, SC50 214 nmol/l.3
Beck DE, Sweeney WB, McCarter MD, Ipamorelin 201 Study Group (2014). Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients. International Journal of Colorectal Disease 29(12):1527-1534. doi:10.1007/s00384-014-2030-8CrossRef 200 NCT00672074CT.gov 200
Phase 2, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled. 117 enrolled, 114 analysed. Intravenous 0.03 mg/kg twice daily for up to 7 days. Adverse events in 87.5 % (ipamorelin) versus 94.8 % (placebo). Median time to first tolerated meal 25.3 versus 32.6 hours, p = 0.15.4
Helsinn Therapeutics (U.S.), Inc. (2011). Phase II double-blind placebo-controlled dose finding study to evaluate safety/efficacy of ipamorelin compared to placebo for recovery of gastrointestinal function in patients following small or large bowel resection. ClinicalTrials.gov registry entry. NCT01280344CT.gov 200
Second phase 2 trial, 320 patients, arms of 0.03 mg/kg twice daily, 0.06 mg/kg twice daily, 0.06 mg/kg three times daily, and placebo, all intravenous. Completed; no results posted on the registry.5
Corpas E, Harman SM, Piñeyro MA, Roberson R, Blackman MR (1992). Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone-(1-29) twice daily reverses the decreased GH and insulin-like growth factor-I levels in old men. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 75(2):530-535. doi:10.1210/jcem.75.2.1379256CrossRef 200
Ten healthy men aged 68 ± 6 given GHRH(1-29), the sermorelin sequence, at 0.5 mg and 1 mg subcutaneously twice daily for 14 days. Only the 1 mg dose significantly raised 24-hour GH and IGF-1, to the levels of nine men aged 26.6
Johansen PB, Nowak J, Skjaerbaek C, Flyvbjerg A, Andreassen TT, Wilken M, Orskov H (1999). Ipamorelin, a new growth-hormone-releasing peptide, induces longitudinal bone growth in rats. Growth Hormone & IGF Research 9(2):106-113. doi:10.1054/ghir.1999.9998CrossRef 200
Adult female rats, 0, 18, 90 or 450 µg/day subcutaneously three times daily for 15 days. Longitudinal growth rate rose from 42 to 44, 50 and 52 µm/day; total IGF-1 unchanged; pituitary GH response to a provocative ipamorelin dose marginally reduced.7
Alba M, Fintini D, Sagazio A, Lawrence B, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA, Salvatori R (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 Metabolism 291(6):E1290-E1294. doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00201.2006CrossRef 200
GHRH-knockout mice given 2 µg CJC-1295 every 24, 48 or 72 hours for 5 weeks. Daily dosing normalised weight and length; 48 and 72-hour intervals did not fully. Pituitary GH mRNA and somatotroph proliferation increased.8
Bowers CY, Reynolds GA, Durham D, Barrera CM, Pezzoli SS, Thorner MO (1990). Growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide stimulates GH release in normal men and acts synergistically with GH-releasing hormone. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 70(4):975-982. doi:10.1210/jcem-70-4-975CrossRef 200
18 normal men. GHRP-6 at 0.1, 0.3 and 1.0 µg/kg gave peak GH of 7.6, 16.5 and 68.7 µg/l versus 1.2 µg/l with placebo; submaximal GHRP-6 plus 1 µg/kg GHRH(1-44) released GH synergistically. Facial flushing in 16 of 18 subjects after GHRH.9

Questions readers ask

What CJC-1295 dose was used in the human trials?

Teichman et al. (2006) gave four ascending single subcutaneous doses to healthy adults and named 30 and 60 µg/kg as the best tolerated; a second study gave two or three weekly or biweekly doses. Ionescu and Frohman (2006) gave a single 60 or 90 µg/kg dose. For a 75 kg adult, 60 µg/kg is 4.5 mg. Those are trial doses of CJC-1295 with DAC, reported here, not recommended.

What ipamorelin dose was used in humans?

Gobburu et al. (1999) infused 4.21 to 140.45 nmol/kg over 15 minutes intravenously. Beck et al. (2014) and the Helsinn registry trial used 0.03 mg/kg and 0.06 mg/kg intravenously two or three times daily for up to 7 days in surgical patients. No subcutaneous human dose-finding study has been published.

Is there a published dose for the CJC-1295 ipamorelin combination?

No. No peer-reviewed human study has administered both peptides together, so no combined dose exists in the literature. Doses circulating online for the blend are not derived from a trial.

Why does this page not give a protocol?

Because neither compound is an approved medicine and the site is an editorial project, not a clinic. It reports the doses the published studies used, with the DOI, so that any figure quoted elsewhere can be checked against its origin.

Questions or corrections: editor@cjc-1295-ipamorelin.com. See the editorial policy.