what is the difference
Sermorelin vs CJC-1295
Two products cut from the same hormone, sold under names that differ by one word, with published records of completely different sizes.
Sermorelin is growth hormone releasing hormone 1-29: the first 29 amino acids of the hormone that tells the pituitary to let go of growth hormone, and the shortest synthetic piece of it carrying full biological activity [1]. It held two United States approvals under the brand name Geref, from December 1990 and September 1997 [3].
CJC-1295 without DAC is that same 29 amino acid stretch carrying four substitutions that slow the enzymes clearing it from blood. It is sold as Mod GRF 1-29 and as modified GRF. So the two aliases a buyer meets are GRF 1-29 and Mod GRF 1-29: one word, two molecules, two records with almost nothing in common.
Not medical advice
This page reports what has been documented about a compound. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, not a dosing protocol, and not a recommendation to obtain or use anything described here. Talk to a licensed clinician about anything concerning your health. Read the full disclaimer.
Reviewed against editorial standards Updated
The short answer
Sermorelin is the unmodified fragment and was an approved medicine in the United States until 2009. CJC-1295 without DAC is that fragment with four substitutions, has never been approved anywhere, and no published study of it could be found for this page. A ClinicalTrials.gov query for sermorelin on 2 August 2026 returned 42 registrations; the same query for CJC-1295 returned one, and that one is a trial of the version carrying the albumin-binding linker [4] [5].
The trap sits a layer deeper than the names. Almost all of the sermorelin literature answers a diagnostic question, whether a pituitary can release growth hormone at all, and a paediatric one, whether a child with growth failure grows [1] [2]. Neither is the adult ageing use both products are sold for.
Side by side
| Property | Sermorelin | CJC-1295 without DAC |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Growth hormone releasing hormone 1-29, unmodified [1] | The same 29 amino acid stretch with four substitutions that slow the enzymes clearing it |
| Evidence grade on this site | Not graded here. The source review a grade is derived from has not been run | Not graded here, same reason |
| Registrations returned by a ClinicalTrials.gov query on 2 August 2026 | 42 [4] | 1, and it is a study of CJC-1295 with DAC rather than of this molecule [5] |
| What the human record was built to answer | Whether a pituitary can release growth hormone, and whether a child with growth hormone deficiency grows [1] [2] | Nothing. No published study of this molecule could be found |
| Largest published treatment study of the molecule itself | 110 prepubertal children with growth hormone deficiency, multicentre, open label, no control arm, followed up to a year [2] | None found |
| US approval history | NDA 19-863 approved 28 December 1990 and NDA 20-443 approved 26 September 1997, both withdrawn effective 18 June 2009. FDA determined in 2013 that neither was withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness [3] | Never approved anywhere |
| Position in sport | Growth hormone releasing hormone analogues sit in WADA class S2, prohibited at all times [9] | Reached by the same class entry [9] |
Why the two get mixed up
The aliases are the mechanism. Sermorelin is sold as GRF 1-29 because that is literally what it is, and CJC-1295 without DAC is sold as Mod GRF 1-29, where Mod stands for modified. A shopper sees the same six characters with three more in front, and vendor copy for the second often opens by explaining the first.
Underneath the names there is a real chemical relationship, which is what makes the confusion durable rather than careless. Both are the same 29 residue stretch of the same hormone at the same pituitary receptor, and the four substitutions change how long the molecule survives in blood rather than what it does when it gets there. This site's rule cuts the other way: evidence about a different molecule never transfers, and a substituted analogue is a different molecule.
A third product completes the tangle. CJC-1295 with DAC is that base peptide again, carrying a linker that ties it to albumin, and it is the version both published human pharmacology papers used [7] [8]. So one name covers two products, only one with a human record, while GRF 1-29 covers a third molecule entirely.
What the published record covers for each
The sermorelin record is human and large, and it points somewhere other than the storefront. Its central published use is as a provocative test: an intravenous administration, then blood sampling to see whether the pituitary responds, in children being assessed for growth hormone deficiency. A 1999 review reports fewer false positive growth hormone responses after sermorelin than after other provocative tests, and states that a normal response cannot exclude growth hormone deficiency arising from a hypothalamic defect [Human open-label] [1]. That is a finding about a test.
The treatment side of the record is paediatric and uncontrolled. One hundred and ten previously untreated prepubertal children with growth hormone deficiency were followed for up to a year across multiple centres with no control arm, and mean height velocity moved from 4.1 cm per year at baseline to 8.0 at six months and 7.2 at twelve [Human open-label] [2]. Every participant was a child whose pituitary was failing, and there was no comparator arm.
The study people reach for when they want an adult ageing result did not give sermorelin. It gave [Nle27] growth hormone releasing hormone 1-29, a substituted analogue, to age-advanced men and women [Human open-label] [6]. Under this site's rules that result stays with the molecule the study gave.
On the CJC-1295 side there is a published human record and it belongs to the other product. Two randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind ascending studies in healthy adults measured plasma growth hormone and IGF-1 after subcutaneous administration of the linker version, reporting mean growth hormone raised for six days or more [Human RCT] [7]. A second group sampled every 20 minutes overnight in healthy men and found the frequency and magnitude of growth hormone pulses unaltered [Human RCT] [8]. Neither tested the no-DAC form, the same 29 amino acid stretch carrying four substitutions.
Which leaves the duration and potency figures quoted for the no-DAC form. They trace to vendor and community writing rather than to a study of the compound described, and a 2018 review of this class reaches the same position on the growth hormone releasing peptides sold without registered trials behind them [Anecdote] [10].
Our takeOne of these molecules has 42 registrations, a withdrawn approval and a real diagnostic literature. The other has a name three characters longer and a published record this page could not find. Neither fact is about what happens to an adult who buys either.
Frequently asked questions
Are sermorelin and Mod GRF 1-29 the same thing?
No. Sermorelin is growth hormone releasing hormone 1-29 with nothing changed. Mod GRF 1-29 is a trade name for CJC-1295 without DAC, the same stretch carrying four substitutions that slow its breakdown. Evidence about one is not evidence about the other.
Why was sermorelin taken off the US market?
The application holder notified FDA during 2008 that both Geref products were being discontinued, and FDA withdrew both approvals effective 18 June 2009. In 2013, on a citizen petition, FDA determined that neither had been withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness, recorded in Federal Register document 2013-04827 [3].
Does sermorelin have 42 clinical trials behind it?
A ClinicalTrials.gov query for the term on 2 August 2026 returned 42 registrations [4]. What they asked is the part that matters: the literature is dominated by pituitary testing and by growth in children [1] [2], and this page found no trial in healthy adults for body composition, recovery or ageing.
Has CJC-1295 without DAC ever been studied?
No published study of that molecule could be found for this page. A ClinicalTrials.gov query for CJC-1295 on 2 August 2026 returned a single registration, a trial of the version carrying the albumin-binding linker [5], and the two published human pharmacology papers under the name used that version too [7] [8].
Which of the two has better evidence?
Not a question this page answers. Neither compound has had this site's identifier-level source review run on it, so no grade is stated for either. The shape of each record can be stated: sermorelin has 42 registrations, an approval history and a diagnostic and paediatric literature that does not cover the adult use it is sold for, and no published study of CJC-1295 without DAC could be found at all.
Are both banned in sport?
Growth hormone releasing hormone analogues sit in class S2 of the WADA 2026 Prohibited List, prohibited at all times rather than in competition only, and both fall inside that entry [9]. That is a rules position rather than a statement about what either compound does.
References
- Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs. 1999. PMID 18031173 DOI 10.2165/00063030-199912020-00007
- Thorner M, Rochiccioli P, Colle M, Lanes R, Grunt J, Galazka A, Landy H, Eengrand P, Shah S. Once daily subcutaneous growth hormone-releasing hormone therapy accelerates growth in growth hormone-deficient children during the first year of therapy. Geref International Study Group. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996. PMID 8772599 DOI 10.1210/jcem.81.3.8772599
- US Food and Drug Administration. Determination that GEREF (sermorelin acetate) injection, 0.5 milligrams base per vial and 1.0 milligrams base per vial, and GEREF (sermorelin acetate) injection, 0.05 milligrams base per ampoule, were not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness. Records NDA 19-863 approved 28 December 1990 and NDA 20-443 approved 26 September 1997, discontinuation notices during 2008, and withdrawal of both approvals effective 18 June 2009. Docket No. FDA-2012-P-1071. Federal Register, volume 78, number 42, document 2013-04827. 2013. Source document
- US National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov registry, queried through API v2 on 2 August 2026 for the term sermorelin. The query returned 42 registrations. ClinicalTrials.gov. 2026. Source document
- US National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov registry, queried through API v2 on 2 August 2026 for the term CJC-1295. The query returned one registration, NCT00267527, a phase 2 study of CJC 1295 in HIV infected patients with HIV associated visceral obesity, recorded as terminated with no reason given and no results posted. ClinicalTrials.gov. 2026. Source document
- Khorram O, Laughlin GA, Yen SS. Endocrine and metabolic effects of long-term administration of [Nle27]growth hormone-releasing hormone-(1-29)-NH2 in age-advanced men and women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997. PMID 9141536 DOI 10.1210/jcem.82.5.3943
- Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. 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. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006. PMID 16352683 DOI 10.1210/jc.2005-1536
- Ionescu M, Frohman LA. Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006. PMID 17018654 DOI 10.1210/jc.2006-1702
- World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List, international standard, effective 1 January 2026. WADA. 2026. Source document
- Sigalos JT, Pastuszak AW. The Safety and Efficacy of Growth Hormone Secretagogues. Sex Med Rev. 2018. PMID 28400207 DOI 10.1016/j.sxmr.2017.02.004