CJC-1295 vs Tesamorelin (compounded)
It is sold as an injection to build muscle, burn fat and slow ageing. Small trials show it raises growth hormone for days, but none show it changes muscle or fat. It is a shot sold by clinics to burn belly fat. It is approved only for people with HIV who have extra belly fat, and for others it rests on one trial of 60 people.
Both sit at grade B: some human evidence. Neither is FDA approved.
Evidence
BSome human evidence
BSome human evidence
Human studies cited
Animal or cell studies cited
Why the grade
Two randomized placebo-controlled dose-ranging trials and one overnight sampling study, all in healthy adults, show CJC-1295 raises growth hormone and IGF-1 for days after a single injection. The largest enrolled a few dozen volunteers, measured hormone levels only, and lasted 49 days. No trial has measured muscle, fat, recovery or ageing outcomes, which are the uses it is sold for, so the grade is B on surrogate endpoints only.
For the approved HIV indication the evidence would be A: two phase 3 placebo-controlled trials (412 and 404 patients, pooled 806) showed visceral fat fell about 15% over 26 weeks. For the use compounded tesamorelin is actually sold for, belly fat in people without HIV, there is one randomized trial of 60 abdominally obese adults with low GH secretion, and a 61-person trial in HIV-related fatty liver. That is B.
FDA
Not approved
CJC-1295 is not approved by the FDA for any use and is sold as a research chemical. Its nominations for the compounding bulks list were withdrawn in September 2024, and in December 2024 the FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted against adding it, so it is not eligible for pharmacy compounding either.
Not approved
Tesamorelin is FDA-approved as Egrifta (Egrifta SV, and since March 2025 Egrifta WR) only for reducing excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV who have lipodystrophy. Compounded tesamorelin sold for fat loss, muscle or anti-ageing in people without HIV is not an FDA-approved product and that use has no approved indication.
Sold for
CJC-1295 is sold as a long-acting growth-hormone booster for muscle gain, fat loss, sleep and recovery, usually paired with ipamorelin.
Compounded tesamorelin is sold by longevity and body-composition clinics as the approved, cleaner alternative to CJC-1295 for burning visceral fat and raising growth hormone.
Studies say
Small trials in healthy volunteers confirm that it raises GH and IGF-1 for a week or more per injection, which is a real pharmacological effect measured on blood tests, but no study has shown it changes body composition or any health outcome.
It reliably cuts visceral fat by about 15% in HIV lipodystrophy, one 60-person trial suggests a similar selective effect in obese adults without HIV, and the fat returns within months of stopping, so the off-label use rests on a single small trial.
Class
GHRH analog (secretagogue)
GHRH analog
Route
Injection
Injection