Informational only. Not medical advice.INFORMATIONAL PLATFORM ONLY — NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS, OR TREATMENT
Informational only. Not medical advice.INFORMATIONAL PLATFORM ONLY — NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS, OR TREATMENT
Head-to-head comparison of Capromorelin and CJC-1295 (no DAC) — mechanism, side effects, legal status, and pricing.
Capromorelin is a non-peptide, orally active pyrazolinone-piperidine dipeptide-mimetic that functions as a growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHS-R1a) agonist, mimicking the endogenous hormone ghrelin. It is NOT approved for human use anywhere; a Pfizer Phase II trial in 395 older adults showed positive signals for lean body mass, body weight, and physical function but was terminated early and never advanced to approval. Capromorelin is FDA-approved as a veterinary drug (Entyce for dogs, Elura for cats) and is explicitly named on the WADA Prohibited List under S2 (growth hormone secretagogues), prohibited at all times in competitive sport.
CJC-1295 without Drug Affinity Complex (no DAC), also known as Modified GRF(1-29), is a synthetic analog of the first 29 amino acids of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). Four amino acid substitutions at positions 2, 8, 15, and 27 confer resistance to DPP-IV enzymatic degradation while maintaining GHRH-receptor binding activity. Unlike the DAC-conjugated variant (half-life 6–8 days via albumin binding), the no-DAC form has a short half-life of approximately 30 minutes, producing brief, pulsatile bursts of GH secretion. Not FDA-approved in any form.
Capromorelin
CJC-1295 (no DAC)
Category
Legal Status
Mechanism
Half-life
Side Effects
COA-verified vendors · trust score ≥70 required · single-vial price — bulk/bundle deals may be lower
Capromorelin
CJC-1295 (no DAC)
COA corpus from Disclosed Labs — independently tested batches only.
Capromorelin
No COA data yet.
Submit testing data →CJC-1295 (no DAC)
2
COAs
99.4%
Avg purity
2
Labs
Capromorelin has human clinical trial data but is not an approved human drug. A Pfizer-sponsored Phase II trial randomized 395 adults aged 65–84 at risk of functional decline to oral capromorelin or placebo for up to 2 years (315 completed 6 months; 284 completed 12 months). The trial reported increased lean body mass (+1.4 vs 0.3 kg, P=0.001), body weight (+1.4 kg, P=0.006), improved tandem walk (P=0.02), and improved stair climb (P=0.04), concluding capromorelin "may improve body composition and physical function." The study was terminated early according to predetermined treatment effect criteria; no human product was ever approved. Preclinical studies in rats showed an ED50 <0.05 mg/kg IV for plasma GH elevation; in healthy Beagle dogs, oral capromorelin increased food consumption and body weight in a 4-day randomized, masked, placebo-controlled trial. In healthy cats, capromorelin altered glucose-metabolism parameters. In broiler chickens, it increased feed intake and body-weight gain.
Key references
The parent molecule CJC-1295 (DAC form) was identified by Jetté et al. (Endocrinology, 2005; PMID 15817669) at ConjuChem as a tetrasubstituted GHRH(1-29) bioconjugate that covalently binds Cys34 of serum albumin via a maleimidopropionyl-lysine linker, extending half-life to roughly 5.8–8.1 days. In healthy adults, Teichman et al. (JCEM, 2006; PMID 16352683) showed single SubQ doses of the DAC form produced 2- to 10-fold GH elevations for ≥6 days and 1.5- to 3-fold IGF-1 elevations for 9–11 days, and Ionescu & Frohman (JCEM, 2006; PMID 17018654) demonstrated that pulsatile GH secretion was preserved (7.5-fold increase in trough GH, IGF-1 up 45%). ConjuChem halted Phase 2 lipodystrophy development around 2006–2007 after a participant death in an HIV-visceral-adiposity trial (deemed by the trial physician most likely due to pre-existing coronary artery disease rather than CJC-1295, but the program was not resumed; aidsmap news, July 2006). The no-DAC form described here ('Modified GRF 1-29') shares the same position-2/8/15/27 substitutions (which confer DPP-IV resistance; see Soule et al., JCEM 1994, PMID 7962295 for the foundational D-Ala2 half-life work) but omits the albumin-linker lysine, giving a short (~30 min) half-life similar to sermorelin. No form of CJC-1295 is FDA-approved for any indication. Grey-market compounding practice pairs the no-DAC form with ipamorelin; this combination is not clinically validated for anti-aging, body composition, or performance use, and peer-reviewed human trials of the no-DAC variant specifically are lacking — the 100–300 mcg dosing range reflects community practice, not clinical evidence.
Capromorelin (Hormone) and CJC-1295 (no DAC) (Performance) are in different categories and target different biological pathways. This is a common pattern in multi-compound research protocols. Researchers should monitor the biomarkers from both profiles and watch for interactions listed in each compound’s contraindications. Consult a licensed healthcare provider before combining any research compounds.
This platform provides informational tools only, not medical advice. This comparison is for educational purposes only. Consult a licensed provider.
Contraindications
Lab Testing
Key references
Disclosed Labs