CJC-1295 Without DAC: What the Evidence Shows

CJC-1295 without DAC shows up in forums, stacks and recovery threads. But almost no human research covers it. The published clinical trials all used a different molecule, CJC-1295 with DAC.

Most pages blur the two, so this one keeps them apart. It lists no doses either. No trial has set one for the DAC-free form. A dose quoted by a seller or a forum has nothing behind it.

Table of Contents

• Quick Takeaways
• What CJC-1295 without DAC is
• What the human data cover
• Side effects and risks
• CJC-1295 without DAC vs other GHRH peptides
• Stacking
• Legal and anti-doping status
• Frequently Asked Questions
• References

Quick Takeaways

What CJC-1295 without DAC is

CJC-1295 without DAC is a GHRH analog. GHRH is the hormone your hypothalamus uses to tell the pituitary to release growth hormone (GH). An analog copies that signal.

This one is built on the first 29 amino acids of human GHRH, with four amino acid changes (3). The DAC (Drug Affinity Complex) version has those changes plus a tail that bonds to albumin, a protein in your blood (3). That bond is why it lasts days. In people its half-life is 5.8 to 8.1 days (1).

Remove the tail and you get the short-acting form. You’ll see about 30 minutes quoted for it, but no published human study reports that number.

What the human data cover

The human trials used the DAC form. Teichman and colleagues ran two randomized, placebo-controlled trials in healthy adults aged 21 to 61 (1). After one injection, GH rose 2 to 10 times for six days or more. IGF-1 (the hormone GH triggers in your liver) rose 1.5 to 3 times for 9 to 11 days. No serious adverse reactions were reported.

Those trials tested hormone levels and safety. They didn’t test whether the rise builds muscle, cuts fat or helps sleep.

Ionescu and Frohman looked at the pattern of GH release (2). They sampled healthy men aged 20 to 40 overnight, before and one week after a single injection of the DAC form. Pulses kept their size and frequency. The lowest levels between pulses rose 7.5 times. So the long-acting form doesn’t erase pulses.

Nothing equivalent exists for the DAC-free form. The DAC trials can’t tell you how the short-acting form behaves.

Side effects and risks

No published human study reports side effects for the DAC-free form.

For the DAC form, the main trials reported no serious adverse reactions (1). FDA still lists CJC-1295 as a safety concern. It says it has identified serious adverse events, including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction (8).

In July 2006 ConjuChem halted its Phase 2 trial of CJC-1295 with DAC in HIV patients with visceral obesity. A participant had died at a study site in Argentina (7). In August 2006 ConjuChem reported findings from its investigation. Secondary accounts of them say the participant had an acute myocardial infarction about two hours after the 11th weekly dose, and that the attending physician judged undiagnosed coronary artery disease the most likely cause (11). ClinicalTrials.gov lists the trial as terminated (6).

Tesamorelin shows what a GHRH analog can do. In its trials, serious adverse events occurred in under 4% of patients. Most were injection-site reactions or effects known from growth hormone therapy, like joint pain, headache and swelling from fluid retention (4). That doesn’t prove CJC-1295 without DAC does the same. Nobody has tested it.

GH raises IGF-1, and the DAC trials showed it (1). In the UK Biobank, higher IGF-1 was associated with a higher risk of four cancers and a lower risk of two, ovarian and liver. Each 5 nmol/L increase carried a hazard ratio of 1.18 for thyroid cancer, 1.11 for breast, 1.08 for prostate and 1.08 for colorectal (5). That is observational data, and the authors say reverse causality can’t be excluded. No one has measured cancer outcomes with this peptide.

CJC-1295 without DAC vs other GHRH peptides

Sermorelin is GHRH(1-29) with no changes. FDA approved it as Geref, and its maker discontinued it in 2008. FDA later ruled the products weren’t withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness (9).

Tesamorelin is another GHRH analog. FDA approved it as Egrifta for excess abdominal fat in HIV-associated lipodystrophy. In two 26-week trials it reduced visceral fat. The fat came back when people stopped (4).

CJC-1295 with DAC lasts days and has hormone-level trials. CJC-1295 without DAC has no published clinical trial. So the evidence can’t tell you which one is better.

Stacking

People pair GHRH analogs with ghrelin-type peptides like ipamorelin, GHRP-2 and GHRP-6 (growth hormone-releasing peptides). The two groups act on different receptors, so the idea is that two signals beat one.

Nobody has tested that idea with CJC-1295 without DAC. No published human trial pairs it with ipamorelin or any other GHRP. That means no data on benefit and none on added risk.

Legal and anti-doping status

FDA hasn’t approved CJC-1295 for any use. Its bulk drug substances page lists CJC-1295 among nominations that were withdrawn (8).

WADA’s 2026 Prohibited List names CJC-1295 under S2, which covers GHRH and its analogues. It’s banned at all times (10).

Quality varies between sellers. See how to verify a peptide COA and our best peptide vendors guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1. Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. Prolonged stimulation of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor I secretion by CJC-1295, a long-acting analog of GH-releasing hormone, in healthy adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91(3):799-805. doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536
2. Ionescu M, Frohman LA. Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91(12):4792-7. doi:10.1210/jc.2006-1702
3. Jetté L et al. Human growth hormone-releasing factor (hGRF)1-29-albumin bioconjugates activate the GRF receptor on the anterior pituitary in rats: identification of CJC-1295 as a long-lasting GRF analog. Endocrinology. 2005;146(7):3052-8. doi:10.1210/en.2004-1286
4. Dhillon S. Tesamorelin: a review of its use in the management of HIV-associated lipodystrophy. Drugs. 2011;71(8):1071-91. doi:10.2165/11202240-000000000-00000
5. Knuppel A et al. Circulating insulin-like growth factor-I concentrations and risk of 30 cancers: prospective analyses in UK Biobank. Cancer Res. 2020;80(18):4014-21. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-1281
6. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00267527. A Study to Evaluate CJC 1295 in HIV Patients With Visceral Obesity (sponsor ConjuChem; status terminated)
7. aidsmap. Lipodystrophy study halted after patient death. July 2006
8. FDA. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks
9. FDA. Determination that GEREF (sermorelin acetate) injection was not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness. 78 Fed Reg 14095, 4 March 2013
10. WADA. 2026 Prohibited List, section S2: peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics.
11. FDAnews. ConjuChem reveals findings of patient death investigation. August 2006.