Why combine a GHRH analogue with a ghrelin agonist?

They act at different receptors, so the stated rationale is that one raises the size of a pulse while the other triggers it. That is a mechanistic argument. No trial has tested whether the combination outperforms either alone.

Nearly always no DAC in these blends. The DAC form lasts days rather than minutes, so it is dosed weekly rather than daily — using a no-DAC protocol with a DAC vial, or the reverse, is not a small error.

Is 5/5 or 10/10 better?

They are the same ratio. The larger vial is more peptide per vial, not a stronger formulation, and a dose measured in units on one is wrong on the other.

CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin

CJC ipaCJC-1295 with ipamorelinCJC/Ipa blend

PreclinicalProhibited in sport

Evidence

Preclinical

Typical vial

5 mg

Route

Subcut

Status

United States

What it is

The default growth hormone blend: a GHRH analogue with a ghrelin agonist, usually 5 mg of each. Two mechanisms that genuinely differ, unlike the triple.

Reviewed 25 Aug 2026

What is in the vial

The same name covers more than one vial. Pick the one you have — a dose in units written for one of these is wrong for the other.

10 mg vial — 5 mg of each
Compound	Per vial	Share	Bought separately
CJC-1295GHRH analogue. Raises the size of the growth hormone pulse.	5 mg	50%	$12–$36
IpamorelinGhrelin receptor agonist. Triggers a pulse without the appetite and cortisol effects of older secretagogues.	5 mg	50%	$10–$27
Total	10 mg		$22–$64

The standard vial, and what most published protocols assume.

The ratio is fixed in the vial: choosing a dose of one component chooses the dose of all the others. The separate-vials column is the cheapest confirmed listing to the median across vendors, for the masses this vial holds. We do not price blend vials themselves — hold it against whatever you are being quoted.

The most widely sold blend in this category, and the one most protocols mean by 'the GH blend'. A 10 mg vial holds 5 mg of each; a 20 mg vial with 10 mg of each is also common.

The pairing has a clearer rationale than most blends. CJC-1295 is a GHRH analogue and ipamorelin acts at the ghrelin receptor, so they push growth hormone release through two different doors rather than competing at one. That is the argument for combining them, and it is a mechanistic argument rather than a studied one.

Almost always the no-DAC form of CJC-1295. The DAC version has a far longer half-life and a different dosing pattern, and a vial that does not say which one it contains cannot be dosed from a protocol that assumes either.

How it works

Two secretagogue mechanisms arriving together, not studied as a mixture.

CJC-1295 is a GHRH analogue: it acts at the GHRH receptor to increase the amplitude of a growth hormone pulse.

Ipamorelin is a selective ghrelin receptor agonist: it initiates a pulse, without the cortisol and prolactin rise older secretagogues produce.

Because the receptors differ, the stated rationale is additive release rather than one component crowding out the other.

What it is studied for

Each entry states the evidence behind it. We do not rank indications by effectiveness — for most compounds here, that would be a claim nobody can support.

Raising growth hormone
Published review
What the blend is sold for.
EvidenceBoth components raise GH separately in human studies. The mixture has not been studied.

Regulatory status

Last reviewed 25 Aug 2026. Positions in this category change frequently, so we date the line.

United States

Not approved anywhere as a mixture or as either of its parts. Sold as a research chemical, in at least two vial sizes at the same ratio.

Identity and clearance

What the molecule is, and how long a dose stays measurable.

Molecule

Class: Pre-mixed blend of two growth hormone secretagogues, 1:1 by mass

Usually CJC-1295 without DAC. The DAC form behaves differently enough that the two are not interchangeable.

Dose protocols reported in sources

Displayed for reference only. Every row says where it came from, and a trial protocol and a community convention are not the same kind of information. None of this is fed into the calculator, and none of it is a recommendation.

Mixed sources

A week-by-week progression is also reported for CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin. See it against a 5 mg vial, where the syringe units can be worked out.

Dose protocols reported in sources, with the source of each.
Goal	Dose	Frequency	Route	Units, 5 mg vial	Source	Start this protocol
Commonly described community protocol	200 mcg – 300 mcg	Once daily before bed, 5 days a week	SubcutaneousTotal blend. At 1:1, 200 mcg of blend delivers 100 mcg of each component.	12–18 u	Community practice	Start this

The doses above in syringe units, for the vial you have:

Start this copies a row into a protocol of your own, which you can then edit. Where a source gave a dose range or an ambiguous frequency, those fields arrive empty — we will not pick a number on your behalf.

CheckRows marked community practice describe what people commonly do, drawn from public discussion. They are not derived from any trial and are not evidence that a dose is safe or effective.

Work out what to draw

Pre-filled with a 10 mg vial as a worked example. These are not recommended values — change them to match the vial in front of you.

Tool

Draw to 4 units on a 1 mL U-100 syringe. That is 0.04 mL, containing 200 mcg of CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin.

Concentration5mg / mL

Volume drawn0.04mL

Doses per vial50doses

Per unit50mcg / unit

4 units sits exactly on a printed line.

Get a shareable image Read the profile

BioAlmanac performs arithmetic on values you enter. It does not recommend doses, schedules or compounds, and nothing here is medical advice. Confirm every calculation against your vial and syringe before drawing, and speak with a licensed healthcare provider.

Open this calculation in the full calculator

Units, concentration, bacteriostatic water — the glossary defines the vocabulary, and a unit is not a fixed volume.

Safety

Reported effects, the situations that need care, and the ones that mean stop.

Read before dosing

Reported effects

Everything from two compounds at oncePublished review
Unknown
No human study of the mixture. Each component's own adverse-effect profile applies, and they cannot be separated if something goes wrong.
Injection site reactionsCommunity practice
Commonly reported
Water retention, tingling or numbness in the handsCommunity practice
Commonly reported
Consistent with raised growth hormone generally rather than with this blend specifically.

When to stop

Any allergic response: rash, hives, facial swelling or difficulty breathing. Seek urgent care.
Persistent numbness or tingling in the hands, which can indicate fluid-related nerve compression.
New or worsening joint swelling.

Interactions and situations that need care

Active or previous cancerAvoid
Raising growth hormone and IGF-1 is a proliferative signal, and neither component has been studied in anyone with a malignancy.
Diabetes or impaired glucose toleranceUse caution
Growth hormone opposes insulin. Raising it can worsen glucose control.
Wanting to control the dose of one componentUse caution
Two compounds at a fixed ratio means Two doses chosen at once. Running them separately is the only way to dose them separately.
Pregnancy and breastfeedingAvoid
No safety data for any component, let alone the mixture.
Competing in a tested sportAvoid
Components are WADA S2, prohibited at all times.

SportProhibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency under S2: Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances, at all times, in and out of competition. Growth hormone secretagogues are named explicitly in S2.

What to expect

What the sources describe over time, and how confident anyone can be about it.

No human efficacy data

HonestlyThere is no human efficacy data for this compound, so there is no evidence-based timeline to give. Any site publishing a week-by-week schedule of expected effects has invented it.

The mixture has not been studied. Both components have separate human GH data.
The two mechanisms genuinely differ, which is more than can be said for the triple blend.
Sold at 5/5 and 10/10 under one name. Check which vial you have.
Almost always no-DAC CJC-1295. Confirm before using any protocol.

Storage and combinations

How to keep it, and what it does and does not go with.

Printable one-pager →

Storage and handling

Freeze-dried powder: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C, protected from light.
After mixing: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C and used within about 30 days. A blend cannot be split. A contaminated vial takes every component with it.
Long-term, frozen: Unopened powder is stable at −20 °C or colder.

Printable one-pager How to reconstitute a vial, step by step

With other peptides

Tesamorelin / CJC-1295 / Ipamorelincaution
That blend contains both of these plus tesamorelin. Running both means taking CJC-1295 and ipamorelin twice.
Tesamorelin / Ipamorelincaution
Both contain ipamorelin and both raise growth hormone through a GHRH analogue. Running them together doubles the ipamorelin.

Check this against a whole stack

Checking your vial

Research chemicals carry no manufacturing standard, so what the vial looks like is often the only quality signal available before you use it.

Quality and COAs →

Clear and colourless after reconstitution
Nothing here is coloured. A tinted solution is not this blend.
Cloudiness or visible particles
Discard it.
No DAC status stated
CJC-1295 with and without DAC are dosed differently. A vial that does not say cannot be dosed safely from either protocol.

Vocabulary on this page

Unit: A mark printed on an insulin syringe. A unit is not a fixed volume. What it represents depends entirely on the syringe's scale.
Secretagogue: A substance that makes the body release something it already produces, rather than supplying that thing from outside.
GHRH analogue: A synthetic version of the hormone that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone. One of the two receptor routes into a growth hormone pulse.
Blend: One vial containing several peptides at a fixed ratio, reconstituted and drawn together.
Half-life: The time it takes for half of a compound to be cleared from the body.
Vial: The small sealed glass container a peptide is sold in, holding a stated mass of freeze-dried powder under a rubber stopper.

The whole glossary →

Questions

Reader questions

Why combine a GHRH analogue with a ghrelin agonist?: They act at different receptors, so the stated rationale is that one raises the size of a pulse while the other triggers it. That is a mechanistic argument. No trial has tested whether the combination outperforms either alone.
DAC or no DAC?: Nearly always no DAC in these blends. The DAC form lasts days rather than minutes, so it is dosed weekly rather than daily — using a no-DAC protocol with a DAC vial, or the reverse, is not a small error.
Is 5/5 or 10/10 better?: They are the same ratio. The larger vial is more peptide per vial, not a stronger formulation, and a dose measured in units on one is wrong on the other.

References

Everything on this page that came from a source, with the source.

Component evidence for common peptide blends: an assessment of what is known separately
Preclinical peptide literature, 2024 · Assessment of the separate component literatures
Cell culture and rodent models
Every component of the common blends is supported by animal or cell-culture work only. No study has examined any of these combinations as a mixture, so combination evidence is weaker than the single-compound evidence. That is itself preclinical.
Community and vendor practice, unverified
Vendor listings and community protocols, 2026 · Anecdote
Self-selected, unverified
Ratios and doses as vendors sell and users describe them. Ratios vary between sellers, so a blend bought from two vendors is not necessarily the same product.
Compiled community protocols
BioAlmanac editorial summary of a public protocol compilation, 2026 · Not a study
Records a week-by-week progression described on a vendor-adjacent protocol site, retrieved August 2026. Only the doses are taken from it. Its own syringe-unit conversions were checked against the vial sizes it states and several understate the volume by half, so nothing computed by that source is reproduced here — the units on this site are worked out from the vial in front of you. Carries no evidential weight about safety or effect.

Quick reference

Commonly described dose: 200 mcg–300 mcg
How often: Once daily before bed, 5 days a week
Route: Subcutaneous
Where: Abdomen, Thigh
Timing: Commonly taken before bed and away from food, on the reasoning that it follows the natural pulse and that insulin blunts release. Not established for the mixture.
Storage once mixed: Refrigerated, 30 days

These describe what sources report, not what you should do. Full detail and provenance in the dosing section below.

Price index

$3.15 – $14.00per mg

Across 37 vendors, normalised per milligram and confirmed by a person.

SizeIn stock only

Confirmed listings for this compound, cheapest per milligram first.
Vendor	Size
Reta One Labs	20 mg	$63.00	$3.15
Verified Peptides	20 mg	$65.00	$3.25
Nexus Peptides	10 mg × 10 vial	$329.99	$3.30
Liberty Peptides	10 mg	$36.40	$3.64
Reta One Labs	10 mg	$37.00	$3.70

Show 48 more vendors

The remaining listings, continuing from cheapest.
Peptide Giants	10 mg	$47.00	$4.70
IDUN Peptides	10 mg	$49.99	$5.00
Genpeptide	10 mg	$50.00	$5.00
Evolve BioPep	10 mg	$50.00	$5.00
PeptidePlugs	10 mg	$50.00	$5.00
Licensed Peptidesout of stock	10 mg × 10 vial	$539.95	$5.40
Felix Chemical Supply	10 mg	$54.99	$5.50
Nura Peptide	10 mg	$55.00	$5.50
Reserve Research	10 mg	$60.00	$6.00
Polaris Peptides	10 mg	$60.00	$6.00
Paramount Peptides	20 mg	$120.11	$6.01
Core Peptides	12 mg	$73.00	$6.08
Peak Lab Peptides	10 mg	$64.80	$6.48
Paramount Peptides	10 mg	$68.00	$6.80
Puratek Peptides	10 mg	$69.95	$7.00
Sentinel Valor	10 mg	$70.00	$7.00
Ascension Peptides	10 mg	$70.00	$7.00
Alpha Peptides	5 mg	$35.57	$7.11
Life Link Research	10 mg	$72.00	$7.20
Biotech Peptides	12 mg	$87.00	$7.25
Direct Peptides	2.5 mg	£19.08	$7.63
Licensed Peptides	20 mg	$155.99	$7.80
Koi Peptides	10 mg	$79.95	$8.00
Core Peptides	10 mg	$80.00	$8.00
Elite Edge Biotech	10 mg	$80.00	$8.00
Elite Edge Biotech	5 mg	$40.00	$8.00
Longevity Pro Labs	10 mg	$80.00	$8.00
Biotech Peptides	10 mg	$81.00	$8.10
Prime Lab Peptides	10 mg	$85.00	$8.50
Blank Peptides	10 mg	$85.00	$8.50
Licensed Peptides	10 mg	$91.99	$9.20
Ameano Peptides	10 mg	$48.00	$9.60
BioLongevity Labs	10 mg	$99.97	$10.00
BioLongevity Labs	10 mg	$99.97	$10.00
Puratek Peptidesout of stock	5 mg	$51.95	$10.39
Modern Aminos	10 mg	$104.00	$10.40
Verified Peptides	10 mg	$107.00	$10.70
Modern Aminos	5 mg	$55.00	$11.00
Umbrella Labs	6 mg	$69.99	$11.66
Umbrella Labsout of stock	12 mg	$139.99	$11.67
Protide Health	10 mg	$125.00	$12.50
Verified Peptidesout of stock	5 mg	$65.00	$13.00
Xeno Peptides	5 mg	$65.00	$13.00
NuScience Peptides	10 mg	$139.99	$14.00
NuScience Peptides	5 mg	$74.99	$15.00
Protide Health	5 mg	$75.00	$15.00
Direct Peptides	2 mg	£32.92	$16.46
Sentinel Valor	10 mg	$399.99	$40.00

Is this price moving? →Every compound we price →

Average per mg

30 daysAll

We started tracking more vendors during this window, so part of this line is who we track rather than what they charge.

Lowest ever: $3.15 14 Sept 2026
Highest ever: $53.99 1 Sept 2026
Change: 19 → 27 vendors 13 Sept to 13 Oct

We started tracking more vendors during this window, so part of this line is who we track rather than what they charge.

Lowest ever: $3.15 14 Sept 2026
Highest ever: $53.99 1 Sept 2026
Change: 5 → 27 vendors 24 Aug to 13 Oct

Mean of each vendor’s cheapest vial listing, US dollars only. Full chart

Email me when CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin gets cheaper

Ranked on price alone. We sell nothing, take no payment for placement, and use no affiliate links — listing a price is not a recommendation to buy. Prices are what the vendor listed when we last looked, not a live quote.

Cold chain

Freeze-dried: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C, protected from light.
After mixing: Refrigerated at 2–8 °C and used within about 30 days. A blend cannot be split. A contaminated vial takes every component with it.
Long-term, frozen: Unopened powder is stable at −20 °C or colder.

How to reconstitute a vial

Stop and seek advice

Any allergic response: rash, hives, facial swelling or difficulty breathing. Seek urgent care.
Persistent numbness or tingling in the hands, which can indicate fluid-related nerve compression.
New or worsening joint swelling.

The full safety section carries the sources for these.

CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin compared with

Also compared with GHK-Cu, Ipamorelin, CJC-1295, Tesamorelin, MK-677, GHRP-2.

Related compounds

Tesamorelin / CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin

Three growth hormone secretagogues in one vial, commonly 6:3:3. Two of the three do the same job, which is the thing worth knowing before buying it.

Tesamorelin / Ipamorelin

An approved GHRH analogue paired with a ghrelin agonist. Sold at three different splits, which matters more here than in most blends.

GHK-Cu

A naturally occurring copper-binding tripeptide with a long history in topical skincare research. Injected use is not what the research studied.

Ipamorelin

A selective growth hormone secretagogue that prompts a short pulse of GH release. Widely used, and supported almost entirely by early pharmacology rather than outcome trials.

Keep this page honest

If something here is wrong, out of date, or missing a source, tell us and we will fix it and say that we did.

Suggest a correction

This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on BioAlmanac is medical advice. No clinician reviews these pages.

Page last updated 25 Aug 2026