Compound guide · Tier B
Ipamorelin
One of the few compounds here that genuinely reached controlled human trials. It is worth knowing what those trials were for, and that they failed.
The short answer
Ipamorelin is not folklore. It was developed by a major pharmaceutical company, taken into randomised controlled trials, and abandoned. The trials were in postoperative ileus, the slowing of the gut that follows abdominal surgery, and they did not meet their primary endpoint. That is the human evidence base: a failed programme in an indication nobody buys it for. It is a real molecule with real pharmacology that reliably raises growth hormone, and raising growth hormone is a biomarker change, not a demonstrated benefit. It also sits on the FDA compounding list its more popular cousins came off, which is a signal worth taking seriously rather than explaining away.
At a glance
| Class | Selective growth hormone secretagogue, ghrelin receptor agonist |
| Developer | Novo Nordisk, later licensed to Helsinn Healthcare |
| Sold as | None. Development was discontinued before any product reached market. |
| Regulatory status | Not approved by any regulator. Ipamorelin reached controlled human trials and did not reach market. As of April 2026 it remains on the FDA 503A Category 2 bulk substances list, meaning the agency has identified safety concerns sufficient to preclude compounding pending further review, with cardiac adverse event signals among the cited grounds. |
| Compounding status | This is where ipamorelin differs sharply from BPC-157, TB-500 and GHK-Cu. Those three came off the 503A Category 2 list in April 2026. Ipamorelin did not. It remains listed, which means it cannot lawfully be compounded under 503A and that the FDA regards the safety questions as unresolved rather than settled. |
| Anti-doping | Prohibited at all times under S2 as a growth hormone secretagogue. |
| Our evidence tier | Tier B. Human trial data, not approved |
What it is
Ipamorelin is a synthetic pentapeptide that acts as a selective agonist at the ghrelin receptor, also called the growth hormone secretagogue receptor. Its selling point in the literature is selectivity: unlike earlier secretagogues it raises growth hormone with comparatively little effect on cortisol or prolactin. That selectivity is well characterised and it is a statement about what the molecule does to hormone levels, not about what those hormone levels then do for anyone.
Who it is for, and who actually takes it
There is no approved population. The trial population was adults recovering from abdominal surgery, studied for postoperative ileus. That programme did not succeed.
It is bought for body composition, recovery and sleep, usually combined with CJC-1295. None of those uses was the subject of the controlled trials, and the growth hormone rise that underpins the rationale has never been linked to those outcomes in a controlled human study of this compound.
What the research shows
The controlled human trials of ipamorelin were in postoperative ileus and did not meet their primary endpoint. Charting a failed endpoint from an indication nobody buys the compound for would mislead more than it informs, so we state the result in words instead.
Dosing
We report only what published research used, and for ipamorelin that means intravenous administration in hospital trial settings for postoperative ileus, and single dose pharmacology studies measuring growth hormone response in healthy volunteers. Those are research parameters recorded for what they are. They are not a protocol, they were not delivered by the route or in the setting people now use, and the programme they belong to failed. We publish no schedule and no reconstitution guidance.
What happens when you come off it
Growth hormone secretagogue effects on the hormone axis are not durable after discontinuation. The pituitary response is driven by the drug being present, and there is no controlled human evidence of a persisting effect on body composition or anything else once ipamorelin is stopped.
What it is being studied for
| Area | Stage of evidence |
|---|---|
| Postoperative ileus | Randomised controlled trials, primary endpoint not met, development stopped |
| Growth hormone release in healthy volunteers | Established pharmacology, biomarker endpoint |
| Body composition or lean mass | No controlled human trial |
| Sleep quality | No controlled human trial |
| Recovery from injury | No controlled human trial |
The two rows with real human evidence describe a failed clinical programme and a hormone measurement. The three rows people actually buy it for are empty. That asymmetry is the honest summary of ipamorelin.
Common myths
Ipamorelin is well studied, so it works.
It is well studied in the sense that controlled trials were conducted and published, which is more than most compounds here can say. Those trials tested postoperative ileus and did not meet their primary endpoint. Being studied and being shown to work are different findings.
It raises growth hormone, so it builds muscle and burns fat.
Raising a hormone is a biomarker result. The step from a raised growth hormone pulse to a change in body composition in healthy adults has not been demonstrated for ipamorelin in a controlled trial, and it should not be assumed.
It is safer than other secretagogues because it is selective.
Selectivity for growth hormone over cortisol and prolactin is real and it is a pharmacological property, not a safety clearance. The FDA kept ipamorelin on the 503A Category 2 list in April 2026 on safety grounds including cardiac signals, while removing several other peptides.
The FDA removed the peptides from its list, so this one is fine now.
It removed BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu and others. Ipamorelin stayed on. If you are going to cite the April 2026 delisting as reassurance, you have to notice which compounds it did not cover.
Verifying a purchase
Ipamorelin is a pentapeptide, short and cheap to make, which makes substitution the main identity risk rather than contamination. Confirm the mass by mass spectrometry rather than accepting an HPLC purity figure alone, and check that the measured content matches the label. The published lot report for this vendor showed 5.60 mg against a 5 mg label, which is a 12% overfill, and content deviation in either direction is worth noticing on a compound sold by weight.
The general method is set out in our guide to reading a certificate of analysis, which covers the eleven checks that apply to any compound. The points above are the ones specific to Ipamorelin.
Caveats and safety
The FDA has cited cardiac related adverse event signals in the data available to it as part of the grounds for keeping ipamorelin in Category 2. Growth hormone secretagogues also affect glucose handling, and the theoretical concern about growth hormone axis stimulation and existing malignancy applies here as it does to tesamorelin. There is no long term human safety database.
Where to get it
Where to get it
CertaPeptides Romania, EU. Volume discounts at 3+, 5+ and 10+ units.
| Vial | Price |
|---|---|
| 2 mg | €23.99 |
| 5 mg | €33.99 |
| 10 mg | €65.99 |
Stated purity. ≥98% stated batch specification. Published lot report #212161 returned 99.96% on a 5 mg vial, with 5.60 mg measured against a 5 mg label, which is 112% of the stated content.
Documentation. Selected lots independently tested by Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic), HPLC plus mass spectrometry, reports searchable on the Janoshik public portal and at certapeptides.com/verify.
Ipamorelin is sold as laboratory research material. The vendor states it is not for human consumption and that it is not approved by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulator for use in humans or animals. Read the evidence tier at the top of this page before the price.
View Ipamorelin at CertaPeptidesAffiliate link. We earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. It does not change a word of the assessment above. Every product we have priced, in one list.
Sources
- FDA bulk drug substances nominated for use under section 503A
- WADA Prohibited List, section S2
- Registered ipamorelin trials, ClinicalTrials.gov
- Ipamorelin literature, PubMed
Related compounds
Disclosure. PeptoPurity is an affiliate of CertaPeptides and earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through the vendor link on this page, at no additional cost to you. That relationship does not set the evidence tier, alter the verdict, or change a word of the assessment. Our Tier C and Tier D pages carry the same links as our Tier A pages, with the same conclusions we would publish if we earned nothing. Where the registered, prescribed route is the better option, we say so on the page that would otherwise pay us.
Scope. This is an evidence review, not medical advice. Where an approved label schedule is reproduced it is a record of what a regulator has published about a licensed medicine, not a recommendation and not a schedule for anyone to follow unsupervised. For unapproved compounds we report only the doses used in published studies, attributed to those studies, and we publish no protocols and no reconstitution guidance for any compound. Regulatory status differs between countries and changes over time. Material sold for laboratory research is not approved for human use. Decisions about treatment belong with a qualified prescriber.