# CJC-1295 Ipamorelin: Two GH Secretagogues, Two Receptors, One Pulse > CJC-1295 Ipamorelin pairs a long-acting GHRH analogue with a selective ghrelin-receptor agonist. A mechanism-first digest of the published literature, every quantitative claim cited. A mechanism-first reading of two peptides, two receptors, and what the studies actually measured — with the half-life chemistry and the open questions cited line by line. ## The short version CJC-1295 Ipamorelin is not one drug. It is two research peptides used together. CJC-1295 is a long-acting copy of a natural brain hormone that tells the pituitary gland to release growth hormone (GH). Ipamorelin is a small peptide that flips a second, separate switch on the same gland — the hunger-hormone (ghrelin) switch — to release GH a different way. Because the two work through different doors into the same cell, putting them together produces a bigger GH burst than either one alone [3]. In healthy adults, a single dose of the CJC-1295 half raised GH several-fold for six days or more [1]. People in research-use communities most often report deeper sleep, faster workout recovery, and more hunger soon after a dose. The honest catch: the fixed CJC-1295 + ipamorelin mix has never been tested in a real clinical trial, neither peptide is FDA-approved, and the downsides — water retention, higher blood sugar, injection-site reactions — are real. What people report, including those downsides, is on [the effects page](/effects). ## What the CJC-1295 Ipamorelin literature actually shows CJC-1295 Ipamorelin is a research combination of a GHRH analogue (a lab-made version of growth-hormone-releasing hormone) and a selective GHRP (a growth-hormone-releasing peptide). The two arms act on two different receptors on the same pituitary cell. CJC-1295 binds the GHRH receptor — a class-B G-protein-coupled receptor — raising the cell's cyclic AMP (its internal "go" signal) and driving GH synthesis and release. Ipamorelin binds GHS-R1a (the ghrelin receptor), raising intracellular calcium and triggering GH granules to empty. The foundational human evidence for combining them is old and clean. In 18 normal men, submaximal doses of a GH-releasing peptide combined with GHRH stimulated GH release synergistically — the two acting through independent mechanisms [3]. At the receptor level, co-activating cloned GHRH and GHS receptors in cultured cells produced roughly twice the cAMP response of GHRH alone [4]. That supra-additive (greater-than-the-sum) effect is the entire rationale for the pairing. The single-component numbers are striking on their own. A single subcutaneous dose of CJC-1295 with DAC raised mean plasma GH 2- to 10-fold for six days or more, and IGF-1 (the liver-made growth factor that carries out many of GH's effects) 1.5- to 3-fold for 9 to 11 days; after multiple doses, IGF-1 stayed above baseline for up to 28 days [1]. Ipamorelin, for its part, was the first GH secretagogue clean enough to release GH without dragging cortisol and ACTH up with it [2]. ## Two receptors, two timescales — and one untested blend The two halves do not run on the same clock, and that matters. CJC-1295 "with DAC" carries a Drug Affinity Complex — a chemical handle that bonds covalently to albumin in the blood, stretching its action to several days [5]. CJC-1295 "no-DAC," better known as [Mod GRF (1-29)](/cjc-1295-dac), lacks that handle and is cleared in roughly half an hour. Ipamorelin produces a single GH pulse and is gone within hours. The dedicated [cjc 1295 dac](/cjc-1295-dac) page works through this distinction in full. Pair a multi-day agent with a short-acting one and the net GH exposure of any specific protocol is simply not characterized. That is the central honesty of this site: there is no peer-reviewed human study of the pre-mixed CJC-1295 + ipamorelin combination itself [1]. Every combination claim rests on each compound's separate literature plus the general GHRH-plus-GHRP synergy work — which used related peptides, not this exact pair. Neither compound is approved for human use anywhere; both are sold only as research chemicals, and both are prohibited at all times in sport under the World Anti-Doping Code (Section S2, peptide hormones and GH secretagogues). For how the two are best understood as a class, start with the [growth hormone secretagogue](/growth-hormone-secretagogue) overview, then move to the [CJC-1295 Ipamorelin research](/research). ## How this site reads the record This is an independent editorial digest, not a clinic and not a vendor. Every quantitative claim on these pages — every fold-change, half-life, dose, and duration — maps to a numbered citation drawn from PubMed and the peer-reviewed literature, listed in full on the [CJC-1295 Ipamorelin references](/references) page. The register is deliberately mechanism-first. Where the data is precise — the DAC half-life of roughly six to eight days, the swine ED50 of 2.3 nmol/kg for ipamorelin [2] — we report it precisely. Where it is absent — human pharmacokinetics for ipamorelin, any controlled trial of the fixed blend — we say so plainly rather than paper over it. No doses are framed as instructions; studied doses are reported only as the amount given to a particular species by a particular route. The result is a reading room for the literature, organized the way the pharmacology actually works: two receptors, two timescales, one pulse. --- A mechanism-first reading of the CJC-1295 and ipamorelin record — two receptors, two timescales, every figure logged to its study and the untested fixed blend kept in plain view; no clinic behind the console and nothing here dosed, stacked, prescribed, or sold.