Page last checked
Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295
Tesamorelin has an approved use and product-specific daily doses. CJC-1295 has no approved dose. Its cited human studies tested the long-acting form and measured hormone changes over weeks. Those findings do not establish the effects of long-term use or apply to the different molecule called CJC-1295 without DAC.
Source for this answer
Source: Sources: Egrifta labels and two published papers on CJC-1295 in people
Source: Sources: Egrifta labels and two published papers on CJC-1295 in people
Medically reviewed by Jennifer Montecillo, MD · non-practicing medical reviewerReviewed 2026-08-13View sources
How Tesamorelin and CJC-1295 differ
Compare approval, doses and what the studies measured. Gaps in the evidence are shown alongside the known differences.
| Question | Tesamorelin | CJC-1295 |
|---|---|---|
| How many molecules the name covers | One | Two different molecules are called CJC-1295 with or without DAC. The cited studies used the long-acting form with the drug-affinity complex (DAC) |
| Is it approved | Yes, since 2010 | No FDA approval |
| The dose | Egrifta SV: 1.4 mg once daily. Egrifta WR: 1.28 mg once daily. Both are injected under the skin of the abdomen and are not interchangeable | No approved dose. The papers discuss 30 or 60 mcg per kg in the dose study and 60 or 90 mcg per kg in the pulse study, injected under the skin using the long-acting form |
| Fixed dose or based on body weight | Fixed for each product | Based on body weight in the cited studies |
| How long people were followed | Initial 26-week safety results: 543 on Egrifta and 263 on placebo. The label also reports a 26-week extension | The dose paper reports 28-day single-dose and 49-day repeated-dose trials. The pulse study measured hormone release one week after one injection |
| What the studies measured | Belly fat, IGF-1, blood sugar and reported side effects | Growth hormone, IGF-I, how long the drug remained in the body and short-term safety. These studies did not establish a body-shape benefit |
| How to distinguish the forms | The product name matters: Egrifta SV and Egrifta WR have different vial strengths and doses | The molecule’s identity matters. A vial amount alone does not establish whether the material has DAC |
| Is there an FDA-approved product label | Yes, for Egrifta SV and Egrifta WR | No |
| Does either have an established dose for aging or body shape in healthy adultsThe same for both | No | No |
| Strength of evidence | FDA label | limited human data |
| Doses covered in the guide | 1 sourced dose entry | 3 sourced dose entries |
What matters first
- Direct head-to-head trial
- None published
- Tesamorelin record
- FDA label; 1 sourced dose entry
- CJC-1295 record
- limited human data; 3 sourced dose entries
Has anyone tested Tesamorelin against CJC-1295 directly?
No direct trial has been published. Separate studies cannot establish which works better or causes fewer side effects.
The studies involved different people and ran for different lengths of time. A difference in their results could come from those study conditions or from the drugs themselves.
Read each result with its study population, dose and follow-up period. The findings below explain what each study can tell us and where the comparison stops.
6Comparison details
What has been reported to the FDA about each?
Tesamorelin: 3,517 reports. CJC-1295: 4 reports. Both were read from FDA’s side-effect report system on 2026-08-17.
| Name searched | Reports filed | Product names in the matched reports |
|---|---|---|
| Tesamorelin | 3,517 reports | EGRIFTA · EGRIFTA SV · EGRIFTA WR |
| CJC-1295 | 4 reports | CJC-1295\IPAMORELIN · CJC-1295 · CJC-1295/ipamorelin acetate |
What Tesamorelin reports are about
- Product dose omission issue — 299 reports, 8.5% of Tesamorelin reports
- Arthralgia — 268 reports, 7.6% of Tesamorelin reports
- Injection site pain — 255 reports, 7.3% of Tesamorelin reports
- Drug ineffective — 191 reports, 5.4% of Tesamorelin reports
- Weight increased — 189 reports, 5.4% of Tesamorelin reports
CJC-1295 has too few reports to publish a useful breakdown here. Ranking reactions from so few reports could suggest a pattern the data cannot support.
Read the product names beside the report counts. A report may name a blend containing CJC-1295 and ipamorelin rather than CJC-1295 alone.
A report about a mixture cannot identify which ingredient caused a reaction. The names also do not verify what the vial contained.
These counts describe reports found by each search. They cannot establish which compound is safer or how often a side effect occurs among people taking it.
Tesamorelin: patient.drug.openfda.generic_name:"tesamorelin" OR patient.drug.medicinalproduct:"tesamorelin" OR patient.drug.openfda.brand_name:"EGRIFTA" OR patient.drug.medicinalproduct:"EGRIFTA" · CJC-1295: patient.drug.medicinalproduct:"cjc 1295"
CJC-1295 with and without DAC are different molecules
The CJC-1295 studied in people carries a chemical group called the drug-affinity complex, or DAC. It binds the peptide to albumin, a blood protein, so the drug remains in the body for days.
The name CJC-1295 without DAC refers to a different molecule, modified GRF 1-29. Results for the long-acting form cannot establish a dose or benefit for that molecule.
Check the exact tesamorelin product. Egrifta SV and Egrifta WR contain the same active drug, but their doses, mixing instructions and storage limits differ. The labels state that they are not interchangeable.
Egrifta and CJC-1295 were studied on different schedules
The Egrifta trials used daily injections for an initial 26 weeks, followed by a 26-week extension. They used an earlier form of Egrifta at 2 mg daily. The current SV and WR labels rely on those trials, but specify their own doses.
The main CJC-1295 paper reports two trials lasting 28 and 49 days. The first tested single injections; the second gave two or three doses, weekly or every other week. A single dose raised growth hormone 2 to 10 times for at least six days and IGF-I 1.5 to 3 times for nine to eleven days. Repeated doses kept IGF-I above baseline for up to 28 days.
The separate pulse study sampled growth hormone one week after a single 60 or 90 mcg per kg injection. Hormone pulses continued, and the study found no significant difference between the two doses.
These short studies do not establish what months of CJC-1295 use would do. They also do not compare it directly with tesamorelin.
Egrifta’s labels specify what clinicians should monitor
CJC-1295 preserved growth hormone pulses in the pulse study, but the level between pulses was 7.5 times higher one week after a single dose. The cited studies do not establish the long-term effects of that change.
Egrifta’s labels call for monitoring of IGF-1 and glucose. In the earlier formulation’s trials, IGF-1 rose above two standard deviations from the age-adjusted norm in 47 in 100 treated people by week 26. HbA1c, a blood-sugar measure, reached 6.5% or higher in 5 in 100, versus 1 in 100 on placebo.
An approved label tells clinicians what to watch for and which tests to run. It does not prove that tesamorelin is safer than CJC-1295. No trial has compared them directly.
What about “CJC-1295 vs tesamorelin”?
Reversing the names asks the same question. The differences and study limits above apply either way.
Related questions include “CJC-1295 ipamorelin vs tesamorelin”. Check the molecule and formulation named in each study before applying its findings to a product with a similar name.
More about each compound
Each compound guide covers its doses, reported side effects and approval status in more detail.
Tesamorelin FDA label
CJC-1295 limited human data
Related guides and calculators
Explore doses, calculations and study findings for either compound.
Convert a CJC-1295 amount to units, beyond Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295
Work out a tesamorelin draw, one side of Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295
The CJC-1295 schedule that Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295 summarizes
Mixing math for any peptide, with Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295 as one example
More options to compare after Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295
The dated regulatory page behind Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295
How both pages in Tesamorelin vs CJC-1295 were source-checked
- EGRIFTA SV (tesamorelin) for injection — FDA-approved Prescribing Information (DailyMed SPL)retrieved 2026-08-12FDA label
- EGRIFTA WR (tesamorelin) for injection — FDA-approved Prescribing Information (DailyMed SPL)retrieved 2026-09-19FDA label
- Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. Prolonged stimulation of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I secretion by CJC-1295, a long-acting analog of GH-releasing hormone, in healthy adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006;91(3):799-805retrieved 2026-08-12Human trial
- Ionescu M, Frohman LA. Pulsatile secretion of growth hormone (GH) persists during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, a long-acting GH-releasing hormone analog. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006;91(12):4792-7retrieved 2026-08-12Human trial
- Dominikowski A, Rękoś Z, Olejarz M, Szczepanek-Parulska E, Domin R, Ruchała M. The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration. Front Endocrinol 2026 — tabulates self-reported online dosing patterns beside the clinical doses, stating the reported values must not be read as clinically validated, regulatory-approved or saferetrieved 2026-08-12indirect evidence
- Dominikowski A, Rękoś Z, Olejarz M, Szczepanek-Parulska E, Domin R, Ruchała M. The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration. Front Endocrinol 2026;17 — Table 1, CJC-1295 (with DAC) safety-signal rowretrieved 2026-08-12limited human data