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Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Compound monograph · §2

CJC-1295 — pharmacology

Molecular targets, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics and interactions as characterised in humans.

Document identifier
CEI-MN-023/2
Series
Compound monograph
Version
2.1
Published
14 May 2023
Last reviewed
14 Jul 2024
Next review
14 Jul 2026
Identifier
10.71829/cei.mono.23
Certainty
Low
Cycle
2023 Q2

§2Pharmacology

§2.1Molecular targets

Table 2. Molecular targets recorded for CJC-1295, with the character of the interaction and the potency where the Institute holds it.

TargetInteractionNote
GHRH receptor (GHRHR)AgonistFour substitutions (D-Ala2, Gln8, Ala15, Leu27) confer resistance to DPP-4 and to enzymatic and chemical degradation
Albumin Cys34 (DAC variant only)Covalent conjugationIrreversible thioether bond; the basis of the multi-day half-life

§2.2Mechanism of action

Both variants are GHRH receptor agonists that increase pulsatile growth-hormone secretion and, downstream, IGF-1. The DAC variant achieves sustained exposure by covalently bonding to albumin in vivo, producing a continuous rather than pulsatile GHRH signal. Whether continuous GHRH receptor stimulation preserves the physiological pulsatility of growth-hormone release is a substantive mechanistic question that the available human data do not answer.[1,2]

§2.3Pharmacokinetics

Terminal half-life
≈30 min (modified GRF(1-29)); ≈5.8–8.1 days (DAC variant)
Time to maximum concentration
not reliably published
Volume of distribution
not published
Plasma protein binding
covalently bound to albumin (DAC variant)
Clearance
not published
Bioavailability
not published

The DAC variant is eliminated with albumin turnover. The non-DAC variant is cleaved proteolytically.

Reconstructed plasma concentration–time profilePlasma concentration plotted against time after dosing, reconstructed from published pharmacokinetic parameters.0.00.20.40.60.801122Time after first dose (hours)Relative concentrationt max ≈ 0 ht½ ≈ 1 h
Modelled profileSimulated observationsDose administration
Figure 2. Illustrative. Plasma concentration–time profile reconstructed by the Institute from the published half-life and time-to-maximum-concentration parameters using a one-compartment model with first-order absorption. The curve is not digitised from a published figure and its vertical scale is relative. It is published to convey the shape of the profile and the approach to steady state, not to supply a concentration at any time point.

§2.4Interactions

  • Not characterised

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. 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. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2006;91(3):799–805. doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536 · PMID 16352683
  2. Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs 1999;12(2):139–157. doi:10.2165/00063030-199912020-00007 · PMID 18031173

Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.

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