Ipamorelin
Growth hormone secretagogue · No brand name. Sold as a research chemical, usually blended with CJC-1295
- UK status
- Unlicensed medicine
- Availability
- Research use only
- Evidence base
- Abandoned in development, no supporting human trials
- Controlled drug
- No, but WADA prohibited
Sequence
Aib·His·D-2-Nal·D-Phe·Lys·NH2
Ipamorelin has something most research peptides do not: a real pharmaceutical history. It was developed as a drug, taken into human trials, and then dropped. That history is more informative than anything on a seller's website.
01What it is
Ipamorelin is a short synthetic pentapeptide that mimics ghrelin, the hormone best known for signalling hunger. Ghrelin also triggers growth hormone release, and ipamorelin was designed to do that selectively, without the appetite stimulation and cortisol effects that limited earlier compounds in the class.
It is almost always sold blended with CJC-1295, on the reasoning that one raises the releasing signal while the other acts on a separate receptor, producing a larger pulse together.
02UK legal and licensing status
Ipamorelin is not a licensed medicine anywhere. It has no MHRA authorisation, and supplying it for human use without one is unlawful under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. Supply for genuine laboratory research, correctly labelled, is a separate lawful category.
Athletes: WADA names ipamorelin explicitly under S2.2.4, among growth hormone secretagogues and their mimetics. Prohibited at all times. Detection methods exist.
03How it works
It binds the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, the ghrelin receptor, in the pituitary, prompting growth hormone release. Its selling point during development was selectivity: releasing growth hormone without appreciably raising cortisol or prolactin, which distinguished it from GHRP-6 and similar earlier peptides.
04What the evidence shows
Ipamorelin was taken into clinical development by a pharmaceutical company and studied in humans, including for post-operative gut function rather than anything to do with physique. Development was discontinued. It never reached approval for any indication.
Drug candidates are dropped for many reasons: insufficient effect, commercial judgement, portfolio changes, or safety. Discontinuation is not proof that something is dangerous, and it is not proof that it works and was buried. What it does mean is that the process which would have produced a safety profile, an approved dose and a label was stopped before finishing. That information does not exist, and no seller can supply it.
There are no controlled human trials supporting the muscle, recovery, sleep or anti-ageing claims made for it.
No completed safety programme, no approved dose, no long-term follow-up. As a ghrelin mimetic it acts on a receptor involved in appetite and metabolic regulation more broadly, and the consequences of doing that over years in healthy adults are uncharacterised.
05Reported harms
No regulated frequency table exists. Trial-era reporting and the pharmacology of the class point to effects related to growth hormone elevation, including fluid retention and effects on glucose handling, and ghrelin receptor activity may affect appetite.
The unregulated supply risks apply in full, and doubly for the blends it is usually sold in.
06Sources
Links go to the primary source. Where a source is behind a paywall or requires registration, the citation is given so you can find it yourself.
- Unlicensed medicines guidanceMHRA
- Prohibited List, S2.2.4 growth hormone secretagoguesWADA
- Ipamorelin clinical development literaturePubMed
- Regulatory status of compounded peptidesFDA bulk drug substances review
07Change history
Every substantive change to this record is logged here with its date. Corrections are made openly, not quietly.
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