CJC-1295: What the Evidence Actually Shows

CJC-1295 is a modified analog of the first 29 amino acids of human growth-hormone-releasing hormone (hGRF(1-29)), engineered for one specific purpose: to stay in circulation far longer than the native hormone does. Its own 2005 discovery paper is worth reading precisely, because "CJC-1295" isn't just a longer-acting GHRH fragment in some general sense — it's a specific chemical modification with a specific mechanism, and that mechanism is the entire reason the compound exists.

The DAC modification isn't a variant — it's the compound's own definition

Researchers at ConjuChem synthesized three maleimide derivatives of hGRF(1-29), each bioconjugated to human serum albumin, and tested them in rats¹. The best-performing compound — the one the paper names CJC-1295 — carries an added N-epsilon-3-maleimidopropionamide-lysine group at its C-terminus, engineered specifically to form a covalent bond with the free thiol on albumin's Cys34 residue¹. That's the "drug affinity complex" (DAC): once injected, CJC-1295 latches onto circulating albumin and rides along with it, dramatically extending how long it stays in the body. In the original rat pharmacokinetic work, CJC-1295 was detectable in plasma "beyond 72 h¹," and produced a 4-fold increase in GH secretion (measured as area under the curve) over unmodified hGRF(1-29) in the first two hours after dosing¹. This DAC mechanism is not an optional add-on version of CJC-1295 — per the compound's own naming paper, it's the defining feature that makes CJC-1295 CJC-1295.

The human trial — and why the half-life is measured in days, not hours

A real human trial followed: two randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, ascending-dose studies (28 and 49 days) in healthy adults aged 21-61². After a single CJC-1295 injection, mean plasma GH concentrations rose 2- to 10-fold for six days or more, and IGF-I rose 1.5- to 3-fold for 9-11 days² — a dramatically longer duration than sermorelin's short-acting GHRH signal. The estimated half-life was 5.8-8.1 DAYS² — not hours — direct human confirmation that the albumin-binding DAC mechanism identified in rats works the same way in people. After multiple doses, mean IGF-I levels stayed above baseline for up to 28 days, with evidence of a cumulative effect². No serious adverse reactions were reported at the doses tested (30 or 60 mcg/kg)².

A distinction worth knowing before buying anything labeled "CJC-1295"

Here's the finding that matters most for anyone actually encountering this compound in the market: what's commonly sold as "CJC-1295 without DAC" (often labeled "Mod GRF 1-29") is a genuinely different molecule — the same core peptide with the albumin-binding modification stripped back out, closer in kinetics to a short-acting GHRH fragment than to the long-acting molecule its own discovery paper describes. A 2026 narrative review states this distinction directly and, critically, reports what evidence exists for each variant separately: CJC-1295 WITH DAC has the real, placebo-controlled Teichman trial data behind it; CJC-1295 WITHOUT DAC "remains essentially uncharacterised in the peer-reviewed human literature... no controlled clinical studies have directly evaluated this compound in humans³." Every finding in this article — the 5.8-8.1 day half-life, the sustained IGF-I elevation — applies to the WITH-DAC molecule specifically. If a product is labeled "Mod GRF 1-29" or "CJC-1295 no DAC," none of that human trial data applies to it.

Regulatory status — reviewed and declined, not pending

A live, re-confirmed DailyMed search returns zero results for "CJC-1295" — no FDA-approved drug product exists in any form. FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee formally reviewed all five nominated CJC-1295 forms — free base, acetate, DAC free base, DAC acetate, and DAC trifluoroacetate — at its December 4, 2024 meeting, and its own briefing document proposes, item by item, that NONE be added to the federal 503A compounding bulk-substances list. One correction worth stating plainly, since some secondary sources get this wrong: CJC-1295 is not on FDA's Category 2 (significant-safety-risk) list. Reading FDA's current 503A document directly, Category 2 contains exactly six substances, and the one flagged there for a cardiac-type safety signal is ibutamoren mesylate — MK-677's salt form, a different, non-peptide compound entirely. CJC-1295 sits in none of the three nomination categories today; it's simply never cleared FDA's own effectiveness bar, not under active safety review.

What the FAERS record shows

A live openFDA FAERS check for CJC-1295 returns 4 total adverse-event reports — upper abdominal pain, acute kidney injury, elevated blood glucose, decreased blood potassium, drug hypersensitivity, and dysphagia, one report each. Four total reports is far too small a number to draw any conclusion from, reported here for completeness rather than as a signal either way.

What this means if you're considering it

CJC-1295 is a real, mechanistically well-characterized long-acting GHRH analog — but only in its original, DAC-conjugated form, which is the form its own 2005 discovery paper and the only real human trial behind it both describe. The far more common market variant, "CJC-1295 without DAC," has essentially no human clinical data of its own despite sharing the name. No FDA-approved product exists either way, and FDA's own compounding reviewers have already considered and declined to add any of its five forms to the federal bulks list. If you're evaluating it against the compound it's most often sold alongside, our CJC-1295/ipamorelin pairing article covers exactly that combination; our three-way sermorelin comparison goes deeper on how all three GH-axis peptides stack up. There is no dedicated CJC-1295 reconstitution calculator on this site today — an honest gap, since neither CJC-1295 variant has an FDA-set vial strength for a calculator to check anything against.