CJC-1295 vs Tesamorelin
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 that cuts belly fat in people with HIV. It cut deep belly fat about 15% in six months, but the fat returned after stopping, and outside HIV there is one trial of 60 people.
Both sit at grade B: some human evidence. CJC-1295: Not approved. Tesamorelin: 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.
Two phase 3 randomized trials in HIV-associated abdominal fat, pooled at 806 patients, support the approved indication, which would be A for that use. The use tesamorelin is best known for outside clinics, trimming visceral fat in people without HIV, rests on one 60-person randomized trial in obese adults with reduced growth hormone and one 61-person trial in HIV-related fatty liver, so the popular use grades 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 Its nominations for the compounding bulks list were withdrawn in September 2024, and in December 2024 the FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted against adding it, so it is not eligible for pharmacy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.
FDA approved
Tesamorelin is approved by the FDA as Egrifta (2010), Egrifta SV, and Egrifta WR (2025) to reduce excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV and lipodystrophy. It is not approved for weight loss, fat loss in people without HIV, or anti-aging.
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.
Tesamorelin is marketed by longevity and body-composition clinics as a growth-hormone-releasing injection that melts belly fat without the risks of growth hormone itself.
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.
In people with HIV it reliably cuts visceral fat by about 15 percent over six months, but the fat returns when the drug stops and the evidence in people without HIV is a single small trial, which is the logic of the B grade.
Class
GHRH analog (secretagogue)
GHRH analog
Route
Injection
Injection