CJC-1295

CJC-1295 is one of the more confusing names in the grey-market peptide landscape because it refers to two genuinely different molecules. The first is the original ConjuChem compound, CJC-1295 with DAC, a 30-amino-acid GHRH analogue carrying a maleimidopropionyl-lysine residue that covalently binds plasma albumin and gives the molecule a half-life measured in days rather than minutes. The second is CJC-1295 without DAC, which is the same modified 29-residue backbone without the albumin-binding linker, identical to what the published literature calls MOD-GRF(1-29) or modified GRF 1-29. The two share a marketing name but not a pharmacokinetic profile, and the conflation matters because most online vendors selling 'CJC-1295' are in fact selling the cheaper short-acting peptide.

The compound was developed in the early 2000s by ConjuChem Biotechnologies, a Montreal company built around what it called drug affinity complex (DAC) technology: the deliberate insertion of a maleimide group that reacts with a free cysteine on circulating albumin, forming a covalent bond that lets a short peptide ride the albumin half-life. The platform was applied to several peptides, of which CJC-1295 was the GHRH-analogue programme. The first peer-reviewed human study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2006 by Teichman, Neale, Lawrence, Gagnon, Castaigne and Frohman.

The Teichman study is still the strongest single piece of CJC-1295 human evidence. The team gave ascending single subcutaneous doses to healthy adults aged 21 to 61 and then administered weekly or biweekly doses, measuring growth-hormone and insulin-like-growth-factor-I responses. They reported a plasma half-life of 5.8 to 8.1 days, mean plasma GH concentrations 2 to 10 times baseline for 6 days or longer after a single dose, IGF-1 elevations 1.5 to 3 times baseline for 9 to 11 days, and IGF-1 still above baseline 28 days after the last of multiple doses. They described the compound as safe and relatively well tolerated, particularly at 30 to 60 micrograms per kilogram. A companion paper from Ionescu and Frohman the same year added that the pituitary's natural pulsatile growth-hormone output was preserved rather than flattened by sustained GHRH-receptor stimulation, in 60 to 90 microgram-per-kilogram dosing of healthy men aged 20 to 40.

After those papers the clinical programme stops. Online accounts state that a Phase 2 subject died during the programme and that the attending physician attributed the event to underlying coronary artery disease judged unrelated to the drug, but that ConjuChem terminated the programme as a precaution. We have not located a primary press release that confirms the chain of events, so we report it as background rather than verified fact. Whatever the precipitating cause, there is no completed Phase 2 efficacy trial in any indication, and ConjuChem itself wound down its clinical-stage operations later in the 2000s. The literature search through 2026 returns no subsequent randomised human efficacy studies on CJC-1295 of any kind.

What did continue is the grey market. Online suppliers picked up the name and began selling vials labelled 'CJC-1295', most commonly without the DAC linker. The pharmacokinetic distinction is rarely made on product pages. A reader buying 'CJC-1295' to chase the multi-day pulse described by Teichman is in most cases actually buying MOD-GRF(1-29), a short-acting peptide whose half-life is closer to half an hour and whose dosing logic is therefore completely different. The two are not interchangeable, even though they are routinely sold as the same thing.

Regulatory status is consistent across our coverage area: no marketing authorisation anywhere. The EMA medicines register returns no result for CJC-1295. The FDA has not approved any human medicine containing the compound, and the only DailyMed listing is a bulk ingredient for veterinary compounding. The MHRA has no record. CJC-1295 is captured by section S2 of the WADA Prohibited List as a GHRH-releasing-factor analogue, prohibited in and out of competition for athletes subject to the WADA Code. Memdouh and colleagues (2021) published a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for detecting CJC-1295 with and without DAC in anti-doping samples, alongside sermorelin and tesamorelin, noting that prior to their work GHRH synthetic variants had not been found in WADA-accredited laboratory samples despite being prohibited.

The compound resurfaces in 2026 reviews of injectable peptide therapy as part of the GH-axis cluster that orthopaedic and sports-medicine physicians are now asked about by patients. Mayfield and colleagues (2026, Am J Sports Med) note that 'CJC-1295 combined with ipamorelin showed significantly improved maximum tetanic tension in murine models' but caution that the findings are limited to animal studies and that 'information regarding the indications, dosing, frequency, and duration of treatment remains unknown'. Eric Topol, writing in his Ground Truths Substack in July 2025, places CJC-1295 in his 'non-approved peptides' table and writes that 'CJC-1295 releases growth hormone, as does Ipamorelin, and these given together may have synergistic (more than additive) effects' while flagging the category-level concern that 'growth hormone related peptides (CJC-1295, Ipamorelin, and Tesamorelin) carry the potential risk of cancer'.

This page is educational. We do not advise on starting, stopping, dosing, or sourcing CJC-1295, and we do not facilitate the sale of any peptide. The single editorial point we want a reader to leave with is that 'CJC-1295' on a vendor product page is rarely the same molecule as 'CJC-1295' in the Teichman paper, and treating the two as one is the most common mistake in the popular literature. Decisions about whether to consider any GH-axis peptide belong with a clinician who knows your history. Use the Regulation and Practical sections below for the operational picture, and the source list for the primary documents.