Sermorelin: evidence, half-life, and how to track it
Sermorelin is a synthetic 29-amino-acid analogue of growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), the shortest synthetic peptide that keeps the natural hormone’s full biological activity, and it prompts the pituitary to secrete the body’s own growth hormone (Prakash and Goa, BioDrugs, 1999). The human studies are small and mostly decades old; its disappearance half-time during intravenous infusion was about 4 minutes (Soule et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1994), and DailyMed lists no current label for it.
By Tessaro Pty Ltd, the maker of Pepti · Last reviewed
This page is a reference, not a protocol. It sets out what the human studies report and how small they were, what a half-life measured in minutes means for a record, and what a clean log holds. It gives no dose figures and no schedule, and the section below explains why that is deliberate rather than an omission.
Reference
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Class / type | Synthetic 29-amino-acid analogue of human GHRH, written GRF(1-29)-NH2 or GHRH(1-29)-NH2 in the trial literature — (Prakash and Goa, 1999; de Zegher et al., 1990) |
| Mechanism | Stimulates growth hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary — (Prakash and Goa, 1999) |
| Evidence base | Human, but small: diagnostic testing and children with growth hormone deficiency (Prakash and Goa, 1999); two-to-six-week studies of GHRH(1-29) in 10 and 11 healthy older men (Corpas et al., 1992; Vittone et al., 1997) |
| Half-life | Disappearance half-time about 4 minutes during intravenous infusion in 10 healthy men — (Soule et al., 1994) |
| Regulatory status | No current sermorelin label listed on DailyMed (checked October 2026); no regulatory approval for physique or performance use — (Dominikowski et al., 2026) |
| Sport | Growth-hormone-releasing hormones are prohibited under World Anti-Doping Agency rules — (Knoop et al., 2016) |
What the research shows
Sermorelin is a 29-amino-acid analogue of human growth-hormone-releasing hormone and the shortest synthetic peptide with the hormone’s full biological activity; given intravenously or subcutaneously, it specifically stimulates growth hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary (Prakash and Goa, BioDrugs, 1999). In the trial literature the same molecule appears as GRF(1-29)-NH2 or GHRH(1-29)-NH2 (de Zegher et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1990). It is a signal to the pituitary, not growth hormone itself.
Its documented clinical uses were narrow. A single intravenous injection served as a test for growth hormone deficiency, and limited data showed once-daily subcutaneous injections increasing height velocity over 12 months in some prepubertal children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. That once-daily regimen was not compared directly with somatropin; in the other sermorelin regimens that were, height-velocity gains were smaller than with once-daily somatropin, and transient facial flushing and pain at the injection site were the adverse events most often reported (Prakash and Goa, BioDrugs, 1999).
The adult studies are small and short, and their abstracts name the molecule GHRH(1-29). In 10 healthy older men who took two dose levels in random order, twice-daily injections for 14 days raised 24-hour growth hormone and IGF-I significantly only at the higher level, where these no longer differed significantly from young men’s; fasting glucose did not change (Corpas et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1992). In a six-week study of 11 men aged 64 to 76, a single nightly injection of GHRH(1-29) raised night-time growth hormone but did not change IGF-I, body weight, or DEXA measures of muscle and fat; two of six strength measures improved (Vittone et al., Metabolism, 1997).
Most current interest sits outside those settings. A 2026 review groups sermorelin with other growth-hormone-axis peptides sold as “research compounds”, notes that none has regulatory approval for physique or performance use, and lists adverse effects reported across the class, including hormonal and metabolic disturbances, fluid retention and injection-site reactions (Dominikowski et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2026). Growth-hormone-releasing hormones are also prohibited in sport under World Anti-Doping Agency rules (Knoop et al., Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2016).
The limits are worth stating plainly. The adult studies above enrolled 10 and 11 men for two to six weeks and measured hormone levels and a handful of functional outcomes, not long-term health outcomes. They are a description of what the molecule does to growth hormone release over weeks, not evidence about what it does over years.
Sources (9)
- Prakash A, Goa KL, BioDrugs, 1999 — sermorelin: review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. Find on PubMed
- de Zegher F, et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1990 — the GH-releasing factor sermorelin [GRF-(1-29)-NH2] given to pregnant women at term. Find on PubMed
- Corpas E, et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1992 — GHRH-(1-29) twice daily in healthy old men, growth hormone and IGF-I. Find on PubMed
- Vittone J, et al., Metabolism, 1997 — single nightly GHRH(1-29) injections for six weeks in healthy elderly men. Find on PubMed
- Soule S, et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1994 — metabolic clearance and disappearance half-time of GHRH-(1-29)-NH2 in normal men. Find on PubMed
- Wilton P, et al., Acta Paediatrica Supplement, 1993 — pharmacokinetics of GHRH(1-29)-NH2 after intravenous or intranasal administration in healthy subjects. Find on PubMed
- Dominikowski A, et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2026 — performance-enhancing peptides acting on the GH-IGF-1 axis (review). Find on PubMed
- Knoop A, et al., Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2016 — detecting growth-hormone-releasing hormones in human plasma for doping control. Find on PubMed
- Manning MC, et al., Pharmaceutical Research, 2010 — stability of protein pharmaceuticals (review). Find on PubMed
What a half-life of minutes means for your record
When GHRH(1-29)-NH2 was infused intravenously into 10 healthy men, its disappearance half-time was about 4 minutes (Soule et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1994). In a separate study of 30 healthy men, the peptide was rapidly eliminated after an intravenous injection, yet growth hormone stayed raised for about 3 hours; absorption through the nasal lining was low, with a bioavailability of only 3 to 5% (Wilton et al., Acta Paediatrica Supplement, 1993).
Two things follow for a record. After intravenous dosing the molecule itself was gone within minutes, while the growth hormone response it triggered outlasted it by hours; neither study measured a subcutaneous injection, so these figures describe the molecule, not the timing of any entry. And the route changes the exposure: the nasal figures are a reminder that the same compound given a different way is, in practice, a different exposure — so every entry should say how it was given.
That is also how this site handles the number. The half-life calculator on this site projects clearance from a value you enter yourself; for a figure measured in minutes it is less a timing tool than a reminder of how briefly the peptide persists. Neither the site nor the app supplies the figure or presents one as settled.
Storage and handling
With no current label to quote, this is general handling, not product-specific instruction. Peptides degrade by both chemical and physical routes, and formulations are stabilised differently in aqueous solution than in the dried (lyophilized) state (Manning et al., Pharmaceutical Research, 2010). Material supplied as a dried powder is generally the more robust form and is inert until a diluent is added; once in solution it is more vulnerable, so it is kept cold and dark, used within a limited window, protected from repeated freeze-thaw, and handled with clean technique. If your supply comes with its own documentation, that governs.
The record-keeping point is the one Pepti cares about: the moment a powder becomes a solution, two facts are created that you will need later and will not otherwise remember — the diluent volume you added and the date you mixed it. Writing them down at the time is the difference between a vial record you can trust and one you are guessing about.
How to track it in Pepti
Pepti is built for exactly this situation: a compound you already have a figure for, supplied in a vial that needs a careful record. If you mix it yourself, the free reconstitution calculator on this site (not the app) takes the variables you enter — the amount in the vial and the diluent volume — and returns the concentration and the draw volume for the figure you already hold. Every input is a value you supply; none is a dose the site suggests.
From there the injection-site rotation tracker keeps a 12-site sequence so each injection lands somewhere other than the last, and the vial record keeps its lot and dates. The app holds the record and the history; the clinical figures stay with you.
Why this page has no dosing section
There is no current sermorelin label on DailyMed, so there is no authorised dose to point to. The amounts used in the studies above were set for specific study populations — children being tested or followed for growth hormone deficiency, healthy older men in a research unit — under investigator supervision. Lifted out of those studies and printed on a reference page, they stop being findings and become instructions nobody actually gave.
Pepti is a record-keeping tool. It logs the figure you already have with the date, time, site and vial, and remembers where the last injection went — but it does not supply or calculate the figure, for this compound or any other. The figure belongs to you and whoever directs your use; the record is what we are for.
What a clean sermorelin record holds
A compound that clears in minutes and acts through a slower hormonal response is only legible over weeks, so the record earns its keep through completeness and consistency rather than precise timing of any one entry.
- Date and time — the actual clock time, not “morning”. Patterns are invisible until written down.
- The figure you already have — whatever was decided with whoever directs your use, in the unit you think in. This page does not supply it.
- Route and form — injected or otherwise, and whether the vial was a powder you reconstituted or arrived as a solution. As the nasal data show, routes are not interchangeable in a record.
- The date any figure changed — not the figure itself, the date. The dates of change are what turn a list of entries into a readable history.
- Injection site — which of the twelve zones, so the next one goes somewhere else.
- Vial records — if the vial arrived as a powder, the diluent volume, resulting concentration and the date it was mixed, so a later draw is not a guess.
- Measured trend — whatever is actually being measured, recorded the same way each time. A single reading means little; the line across weeks is the part worth keeping.
The free reconstitution calculator on this site (not the app) converts the figures you already have into a draw volume and a count of doses per vial; the peptide tracking app guide shows how to keep your log, the site sequence and your notes on one timeline.
Common questions
What is sermorelin?
Sermorelin is a synthetic 29-amino-acid analogue of human growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), and the shortest synthetic peptide with the full biological activity of the natural hormone. It stimulates the anterior pituitary to secrete the body's own growth hormone (Prakash and Goa, BioDrugs 1999). In the trial literature it is written GRF(1-29)-NH2 or GHRH(1-29)-NH2.
Is sermorelin approved?
No current sermorelin label is listed on DailyMed, the US National Library of Medicine's label database (checked October 2026). In the clinical literature it was used as a diagnostic test for growth hormone deficiency and in some children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (Prakash and Goa, BioDrugs 1999). It has no regulatory approval for physique or performance use (Dominikowski et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology 2026), and growth-hormone-releasing hormones are prohibited in sport under World Anti-Doping Agency rules (Knoop et al., Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2016).
What is sermorelin's half-life?
Short. When GHRH(1-29)-NH2, the molecule known as sermorelin, was infused intravenously into 10 healthy men, its disappearance half-time was about 4 minutes (Soule et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1994). The half-life calculator on this site works from a value you enter yourself, never one we supply.
How long does sermorelin stay in your system?
The peptide itself clears quickly: its disappearance half-time during intravenous infusion was about 4 minutes (Soule et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1994). The growth hormone release it triggers lasts longer: in a study of 30 healthy men the peptide was rapidly eliminated after an intravenous injection, yet growth hormone stayed raised for about 3 hours (Wilton et al., Acta Paediatrica Supplement 1993). Those are intravenous findings in healthy volunteers; other routes and products may behave differently.
What did human studies of sermorelin show?
In 10 healthy older men, twice-daily injections of GHRH(1-29) for 14 days raised 24-hour growth hormone and IGF-I, significantly only at the higher of two dose levels (Corpas et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1992). In 11 men aged 64 to 76, a single nightly injection of GHRH(1-29) for six weeks raised night-time growth hormone but did not change IGF-I, weight or DEXA measures of muscle and fat (Vittone et al., Metabolism 1997). Both studies were small and short.
Does Pepti tell me what dose to take?
No. Pepti supplies no dose figures for sermorelin or for anything else. It records the figure you already have from whoever directs your use, with the date, time, injection site and vial, and keeps the 12-zone site sequence. The record is ours; the figure is not.
This page is a reference on published evidence and record-keeping. It does not recommend sermorelin or any other substance, and it provides no dose figure, no titration amount, and no schedule. No current sermorelin label is listed on DailyMed, and it is not approved for physique or performance use.
The Pepti peptide tracker for iPhone keeps the log, the site sequence, the vial records and your notes in one place.
Not medical advice. Pepti is a record-keeping tool, not a medical device.
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