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Compound monograph · evidence extract

GHRP-6 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology — evidence extract

The Institute's graded assessment of GHRP-6 for growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology, with the contributing trials and the domain-by-domain certainty reasoning.

Document identifier
CEI-MN-027/EV-GHD
Series
Evidence extract
Version
4.0
Published
21 Nov 2024
Last reviewed
21 Sep 2025
Next review
21 Sep 2027
Identifier
10.71829/cei.mono.27
Certainty
Low
Cycle
2024 Q4

§1Evidence extract: Growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology

§1.1Question and anchor outcome

Population
Insufficient endogenous growth-hormone secretion, or the pharmacological stimulation of the growth-hormone axis, assessed here principally through provocative testing and IGF-1 response.
Intervention
GHRP-6, subcutaneous or intravenous
Comparator
As used in each contributing trial; reported per trial rather than pooled across comparator types
Anchor outcome
Peak stimulated growth hormone

Additional outcomes the Institute extracts for this indication: Change in IGF-1 and IGFBP-3; Body composition by DXA; Glucose tolerance.

§1.2Contributing trials

Table 1. Trials contributing to the assessment of GHRP-6 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology.

TrialPhaseDesignRandomisedDurationYear
GHRP6-PH1-GH1Phase 1 ascending doseSingle dose1995

§1.3Certainty assessment

Certainty assessment by domainDowngrading decision recorded for each certainty domain.Certainty domainNo concernSeriousVery seriousEffect on ratingRisk of biasno downgradeInconsistencyno downgradeIndirectnessno downgradeImprecisionno downgradePublication biasdowngrade two levelsTotal downgrading: 2 levelsLow certainty
Figure 2. Domain-by-domain certainty assessment for GHRP-6 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology. The starting rating for a body of randomised evidence is high; each serious concern reduces it by one level and each very serious concern by two.

Table 2. Reasoning recorded against each certainty domain.

DomainRatingReasoning
Risk of biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
InconsistencyNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
IndirectnessNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
ImprecisionNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
Publication biasVery seriousThe evidence base is small, recent and wholly sponsor-generated.
Overall rating: Low certainty. Confidence in the effect estimate is limited. The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate.

§1.4What this extract does not establish

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. Raun K, Hansen BS, Johansen NL, Thøgersen H, Madsen K, Ankersen M, Andersen PH. Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue. European Journal of Endocrinology 1998;139(5):552–561. doi:10.1530/eje.0.1390552 · PMID 9849822
  2. Thevis M, Thomas A, Schänzer W. Detecting peptidic drugs, drug candidates and analogs in sports doping: current status and future directions. Expert Review of Proteomics 2019;11(6):663–673. doi:10.1586/14789450.2014.965158
  3. Manning MC, Chou DK, Murphy BM, Payne RW, Katayama DS. Stability of protein pharmaceuticals: an update. Pharmaceutical Research 2010;27(4):544–575. doi:10.1007/s11095-009-0045-6 · PMID 20143256

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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