CJC-1295 Side Effects: Potentially Permanent Risks Explained

What human data exist on CJC-1295 side effects?

FDA identified three published human studies of CJC-1295 (Teichman 2006, Ionescu and Frohman 2006, Sackmann-Sala 2009), all of the DAC form and all in healthy volunteers, and found none in people with a disease [2].

Teichman 2006 comprised two randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, ascending-dose trials lasting 28 and 49 days in healthy adults aged 21 to 61, given as a single injection in the first study and as two or three weekly or biweekly doses in the second [1].

Ionescu and Frohman 2006 gave healthy men aged 20 to 40 one injection of 60 or 90 micrograms/kg [4]. A trial in HIV-associated visceral obesity, listed on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT00267527, was terminated [2].

That is the human record: weeks rather than months, healthy volunteers rather than patients.

Which side effects did the trials record?

From FDA's summary of the two Teichman trials:

• Injection-site reactions in about 70% of treated subjects in study 1, and in all treated subjects in study 2 [2].
• Headache in 63% of treated subjects versus 14% on placebo in study 1 [2].
• Flushing, warmth and transient low blood pressure in about 30% of treated subjects in study 1 [2].
• Transient diarrhea, and transient dizziness with low blood pressure in two subjects [2].

Most events were more common at the higher doses of 125 or 250 micrograms/kg, and no serious adverse reactions were reported [2]. The investigators described CJC-1295 as safe and relatively well tolerated, particularly at 30 or 60 micrograms/kg [1].

In the Ionescu study there were no serious adverse events; the authors reported dose-dependent increases in heart rate and transient injection-site redness and tenderness [2].

Can CJC-1295 cause permanent harm?

The published trials did not follow participants long enough to show whether any effect persists [1][4]. FDA notes that raising growth hormone and IGF-I carries the risks listed on approved growth hormone labels, such as glucose intolerance and diabetes, fluid retention and tumor growth concerns, and said the CJC-1295 human studies were short, small and mostly single-dose, so long-term safety is unknown [2].

A death in a 2006 phase 2 trial is described below; FDA says a causal link is neither shown nor excluded [2].

How long does one dose keep working?

After a single subcutaneous injection of CJC-1295 DAC, the estimated half-life was 5.8 to 8.1 days, mean plasma growth hormone rose 2- to 10-fold for 6 days or more, and mean IGF-I rose 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days [1]. After multiple doses, mean IGF-I stayed above baseline for up to 28 days [1].

Growth hormone pulses were preserved. In the Ionescu study, sampled a week after injection, pulse frequency and size were unchanged, but trough (between-pulse) growth hormone rose about 7.5-fold, mean growth hormone rose 46% and IGF-I rose 45%, with no difference between the 60 and 90 micrograms/kg doses [4].

What happened in the trial that was stopped?

ConjuChem withdrew CJC-1295 DAC from clinical trials in 2006 after a participant in a phase 2 trial in HIV lipodystrophy, which had enrolled 192 people, died [2]. FDA cites anecdotal news reports: the person had chest discomfort 2 hours after an 11th weekly dose, an ECG showed an acute heart attack, and the attending physician's most likely explanation was undiagnosed coronary artery disease with plaque rupture [2]. The data were never published, so a causal link is neither shown nor excluded [2].

Does it affect heart rate and blood pressure?

Heart rate rose with dose in the Ionescu study [2], and flushing, warmth and transient low blood pressure affected about 30% of treated subjects in study 1 of Teichman 2006 [2]. FDA's page on bulk substances that may raise safety risks when compounded lists serious adverse events associated with CJC-1295, including increased heart rate and a systemic vasodilatory reaction, alongside possible immunogenicity for certain routes and problems with impurity and characterization [3].

What about the version sold without DAC, or in blends?

FDA describes two forms: CJC-1295, a 29-amino-acid growth hormone-releasing hormone analogue, and CJC-1295 DAC, the peptide with an added maleimidopropionic acid-lysine unit that lets it bind blood albumin and last much longer [2]. All three published human studies used the DAC form; no published human study tested the version sold as CJC-1295 without DAC [2].

FDA also noted that CJC-1295 products sold online are mostly labelled research use only, including blends with ipamorelin and growth hormone-releasing peptides, and that research-use-only products are not FDA-approved drugs [2].

Is CJC-1295 approved anywhere?

FDA found no approved product containing any form of CJC-1295 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain or the United Kingdom, and none authorized by the European Medicines Agency [2]. It is an investigational analogue developed by ConjuChem Biotechnologies of Montreal and first described in 2005 [2][5].

CJC-1295 now sits in the nominated-but-withdrawn table of FDA's safety-risk list, having come off category 2 when the nominators withdrew, and FDA's stated concerns remain posted [3]. It is not in any of the three categories on FDA's list for state-licensed pharmacies and physicians (updated May 14, 2026) or on its list for outsourcing facilities (updated March 21, 2025) [6][7]. On December 4, 2024, FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 0 yes and 13 no on CJC-1295 free base, 1 yes and 12 no on CJC-1295 acetate, and 0 yes and 13 no on each of the three DAC forms [8]. The October 2026 HHS draft enforcement-discretion policy names six other peptides, not this one [9]. WADA lists CJC-1295 in section S2.2.4 as a growth hormone-releasing hormone analogue, prohibited at all times in and out of competition [10][11].

Is there an established dose?

There is no FDA-approved dose. Doses in the human studies were single subcutaneous injections of roughly 30 to 250 micrograms/kg, or two to three doses given weekly or every two weeks, and those are study doses rather than a prescribing standard [1][2].