Compounds › Growth hormone axis

Ipamorelin

Selective secretagogue, without the hunger trigger of GHRP-6

Not approvedGrowth hormone axis

AI-generated illustration. Not data, and not an image from a study.

Experimental material. Read before using anything from here.

Nothing on this page is a medical recommendation, prescription or treatment plan. It is an organized translation of protocols circulating in research communities and, where it exists, of what published trials tested. The two are marked differently — and they are not equivalent.

Most of the compounds here have no FDA approval for human use. Several are sold labeled "research use only", which means they have not gone through purity, sterility or dosage controls for human consumption. A community-reported dose is not a validated dose: it is what someone reported having done.

Talk to a licensed health professional before considering any of these compounds. If you already use one and feel anything unexpected, seek care — do not wait for the next routine test.

Summary

Small peptide that asks the body to release its own growth hormone in short, natural pulses. It also appears as NNC 26-0161; it was studied by Novo Nordisk in the late 1990s. It is more selective than GHRP-6 — less effect on cortisol, prolactin and appetite.

Quick reference

Route: Subcutaneous only — lower abdomen, thigh or arm.
Dose range: 100 to 300 mcg per application. Above 300 mcg, GH release does not rise significantly.
Schedule: One to three applications per day. The single dose before bed is the most common.
Cycle: Community protocols describe 8 to 12 weeks on, then 4 weeks off.

Protocol and dosing schedule

Phase	Timing	Daily dose	Frequency
Assessment	Week 1	100 mcg/day	1x at bedtime, fasted
Titration	Weeks 2-3	200 mcg/day	1x bedtime, or split 100 mcg AM + 100 mcg PM
Standard	Weeks 4-8	200-300 mcg/day	1-2x daily (AM fasted + bedtime is common)
Extended	Weeks 9-12	200-300 mcg/day	Continue if tolerated. Some protocols run to week 16.
Off-cycle	4 weeks	0 mcg	Resting period before starting a new cycle.

Dose per day

Amount each time	Frequency	Calculated daily total
100 mcg	1×/day	100 mcg/day
100 mcg	2×/day	200 mcg/day
200 mcg	1×/day	200 mcg/day
300 mcg	3×/day	900 mcg/day

2 mg vs 5 mg vs 10 mg Ipamorelin Vials

Vial size	Total amount in vial	What changes
2 mg	2,000 mcg	Total material available
5 mg	5,000 mcg	Total material available
10 mg	10,000 mcg	Total material available

Ipamorelin Dosage in mL and U-100 Syringe Units

Vial size	BAC water added	Concentration	100 mcg	200 mcg	300 mcg
2 mg	1.0 mL	2,000 mcg/mL	0.05 mL (5 units)	0.10 mL (10 units)	0.15 mL (15 units)
5 mg	2.0 mL	2,500 mcg/mL	0.04 mL (4 units)	0.08 mL (8 units)	0.12 mL (12 units)
10 mg	3.0 mL	3,333 mcg/mL	0.03 mL (3 units)	0.06 mL (6 units)	0.09 mL (9 units)

Ipamorelin Dosage Chart

Research context	Amount per administration	Daily total	Frequency	Timing	Evidence level
Assessment schedule	100 mcg	100 mcg/day	1×/day	Bedtime, fasted	Community-reported
Divided titration schedule	100 mcg	200 mcg/day	2×/day	AM fasted and bedtime	Community-reported
Common single-administration schedule	200 mcg	200 mcg/day	1×/day	Bedtime, fasted	Community-reported
Higher community schedule	300 mcg	900 mcg/day	3×/day	Divided across the day	Community-reported

Ipamorelin Timeline & What to Monitor

Phase	Window	What People Report
Single shot	30-40 minutes	GH reaches its peak. No perceptible sensation at standard doses. Some report a slight sense of pulse or fullness.
Days 1-7	Early signal	Mild headache or tingling possible. Some report deeper sleep on bedtime dosing.
Week 2-4	Body acclimates	Most early side effects fade. Sleep changes (if present) tend to stabilize.
Weeks 4-8	Reported changes	Some users report changes in recovery, sleep quality, or skin. These reports are variable and not from controlled studies.
Weeks 8–12	Standard cycle end	Most community protocols stop here for a 4-week off-cycle.

Ipamorelin vs GHRP-2 and GHRP-6

Feature	Ipamorelin	GHRP-2	GHRP-6
Receptor	GHS-R1a	GHS-R1a	GHS-R1a
Half-life	~2 hours	~25-30 minutes	~20-30 minutes
Dose	1-3x daily (SubQ)	2-3x daily (SubQ)	2-3x daily (SubQ)
Standard dose	100-300 mcg	100-300 mcg	100-300 mcg
Cortisol effect	None at standard doses	Yes	Yes
Prolactin effect	None	Moderate	Minimal
Appetite effect	Mild	Moderate	Strong
FDA status	Not approved	Not approved	Not approved

Ipamorelin Cycle Chart: 8 vs 12 vs 16 Weeks

Cycle length	How it is commonly described	Published Ipamorelin evidence	Evidence level
8 weeks	Shorter community cycle	No human trial established an 8-week SC cycle	Community convention
12 weeks	Common community cycle endpoint	No human trial established a 12-week SC cycle	Community convention
16 weeks	Longer or extended community cycle	No human trial established a 16-week SC cycle	Community convention
Up to 7 days	Published postoperative trial exposure	IV Ipamorelin from postoperative day 1 to day 7 or hospital discharge	Human clinical study
Up to 10 days	Phase II outcome window	Repeated IV dosing arms with outcomes measured up to 10 days	Human clinical study

Ipamorelin Half-Life vs Cycle Length

Term	What it means	What the evidence says
Half-life	Time related to drug clearance	About 2 hours after IV infusion in the 1999 human PK/PD study
GH response window	Short hormone response after exposure	GH peaked near 0.67 hours in the 1999 IV study
Cycle length	Total weeks in a repeated schedule	No validated 8-, 12-, or 16-week SC duration
Off cycle	Planned period without exposure	No validated 4-week washout rule in human Ipamorelin trials

Published Evidence vs Community Cycle Schedules

Claim	Evidence status	How to present it
Ipamorelin has human PK/PD data	Supported	Published human IV research
Ipamorelin was studied with repeated dosing after bowel surgery	Supported	Published Phase II IV research
8 weeks is the best cycle length	Not established	Community convention only
12 weeks is the standard clinical cycle	Not established	Community convention only
16 weeks is proven safe or more effective	Not established	Do not present as a proven claim
4 weeks off is required to restore sensitivity	Not established	Community rationale, not a validated human rule
A 2-hour half-life proves a multi-week cycle length	Incorrect inference	Half-life and cycle duration are separate concepts

Storage and handling

The rules below apply to practically every lyophilized peptide in this reference. Where a compound has its own requirement, it appears in the table in the previous section.

Lyophilized powder, sealed: refrigerator, between 2 and 8 °C, protected from light. Many tolerate room temperature for short transport periods, but that is tolerance, not a recommendation.
After reconstitution: always refrigerated, between 2 and 8 °C. The stability window drops to days or a few weeks, depending on the compound.
Never freeze after reconstituting. The freeze–thaw cycle degrades the peptide.
Do not shake. Swirl the vial slowly. Shaking breaks the peptide chain.
Bacteriostatic water down the wall of the vial, in a slow stream, not squirted directly onto the powder.
Cloudy solution, with particles or a color change: discard. There is no recovery.

Lab tests and monitoring

This list is the one that appears recurrently in the source, with small variations by compound. It serves as a starting point for a conversation with a professional — not as a substitute for that conversation.

Before starting: complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, lipid panel, fasting glucose and HbA1c, TSH and free T4, blood pressure and resting heart rate.
Depending on the compound: IGF-1 (GH axis), lipase and amylase (VIP and the incretin agonists), serum copper and ceruloplasmin (GHK-Cu and blends containing it), CRP.
Reassessment: most protocols review between week 4 and week 8, and then every 8–12 weeks.
Do not wait for the routine lab test in the face of abdominal pain, visual changes, a change in a mole, shortness of breath, asymmetric swelling or any new and persistent symptom. That is a reason to seek care, not a spreadsheet item.

Evidence limits

What these numbers are and what they are not. The values above were preserved exactly as they appear in the source, without reinterpretation. What the source describes as community practice is marked as such in the tables; what came from a published trial is too. A dose repeated by many people does not become a validated dose by repetition.

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