Ipamorelin vs Tesamorelin (compounded)
Sold for anti-aging, fat loss and muscle. It does raise growth hormone in people, but the one outcome trial, in 117 bowel surgery patients, did not work. 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.
Tesamorelin (compounded) has the stronger evidence, grade B (some human evidence) against grade C for Ipamorelin. Neither is FDA approved.
Evidence
CAnimal and cell studies
BSome human evidence
Human studies cited
Animal or cell studies cited
Why the grade
For the anti-aging and body-composition use ipamorelin is sold for, no human trial exists. The human data are a 40-volunteer dose-escalation pharmacokinetic study showing a single growth hormone pulse, a 114-patient randomised phase 2 trial in post-operative ileus that found no benefit, and a comparative hormone study of related peptides. The selectivity claim comes from rats and swine.
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
Ipamorelin is not approved by the FDA for any use and is sold online as a research chemical; its development for post-operative ileus was abandoned after a negative phase 2 trial. In 2023 the FDA placed it in Category 2 of its compounding lists, the category for substances with significant safety risks, and it remains there for outsourcing facilities (503B) although the nominations for pharmacy compounding (503A) were withdrawn in 2024. In October 2024 the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 12 to 0, with one abstention, against adding it to the 503A bulks list.
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
Ipamorelin is sold as the cleanest growth hormone secretagogue, for anti-aging, fat loss and muscle, usually paired with CJC-1295.
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
Ipamorelin releases growth hormone in humans without the cortisol rise seen with GHRP-2 and GHRP-6, but the only outcome trial, in bowel surgery patients, was negative, and no study has measured body composition or aging, so the grade is C.
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
GHRP / ghrelin receptor agonist
GHRH analog
Route
Injection
Injection