What is CJC-1295 with DAC? Meaning, forms and evidence status

What is CJC-1295 with DAC?

CJC-1295 with DAC is a lab-made peptide, a short chain of amino acids, built from the first 29 amino acids of human growth hormone-releasing factor with four swaps and one added lysine that carries a reactive maleimide group. That group bonds to cysteine 34 of albumin, a blood protein, and in rats the peptide was present in plasma beyond 72 hours, an animal result and not a human measurement (Jetté et al., Endocrinology, 2005). DAC stands for drug affinity complex. In two placebo-controlled trials of healthy adults aged 21 to 61, the estimated half-life was 5.8 to 8.1 days, with no participant count in the abstract (Teichman et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2006).

Albumin is a protein your liver already makes in large amounts, and it carries other molecules around your blood. The hook lets the peptide travel attached to it. The Jetté paper presents that attachment as a tool for extending how long a peptide stays in the blood.

The DAC and no DAC comparison guide sets the two molecules side by side, with their registry numbers and the published half-life record.

What is no DAC in CJC-1295?

No DAC means the form of CJC-1295 without the drug affinity complex, the albumin-binding hook. It keeps the 29-amino-acid backbone and drops the added lysine and hook (Jetté et al., Endocrinology, 2005). A 2026 narrative review calls the form Mod GRF 1-29 and says it has no peer-reviewed human studies, placing it in the lowest of four evidence tiers (Dominikowski et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2026). The Teichman et al. (2006) and Ionescu and Frohman (2006) human results discussed here concern the DAC form and do not establish results for the without-DAC form.

A name on a label is a claim to check. Two molecules can share the CJC-1295 name while differing in length, half-life and registry record. The comparison guide explains why a paper about one form cannot simply be used for the other.

Is CJC-1295 a steroid?

No. CJC-1295 is a peptide, a chain of amino acids, while anabolic steroids are a separate drug family. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) files them in different classes: anabolic androgenic steroids sit in S1, anabolic agents, and CJC-1295 sits in S2.2.4, growth hormone releasing factors, within the peptide hormones class (WADA Prohibited List 2026, in effect from 1 January 2026). Both classes are prohibited at all times in sport. That is a sport rule. It does not mean the two work alike.

Online talk often lumps every performance-related product together. A 2026 narrative review warns that people who use these peptides often use other products too, including anabolic-androgenic steroids, so a change attributed to one peptide may reflect several exposures (Dominikowski et al., 2026).

Is CJC-1295 a growth hormone?

No. CJC-1295 is a lab-made copy of the signal that tells the pituitary gland to make and release its own growth hormone, not growth hormone itself (Jetté et al., 2005; Teichman et al., 2006). WADA lists growth hormone and its analogues in class S2.2.3 and growth hormone releasing factors such as CJC-1295 in class S2.2.4 (WADA Prohibited List 2026). Because the pituitary still makes the hormone, growth hormone pulses were preserved in healthy men aged 20 to 40, with no participant count in the abstract, sampled overnight one week after one exposure, a hormone-level result from one study (Ionescu and Frohman, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2006).

The difference matters for how the body responds. Your pituitary also listens to feedback signals, so a releasing factor works inside the body's own control loops. A 2026 narrative review notes that GHRH analogues act upstream of growth hormone release, so their effects remain shaped by regulatory loops such as somatostatin tone and IGF-1 feedback, although long-acting constructs can produce more sustained stimulation (Dominikowski et al., 2026).

Does CJC-1295 affect or suppress testosterone?

No human study found for this page reports testosterone as a CJC-1295 outcome. A Europe PMC search on 14 October 2026 for CJC-1295 with testosterone returned 13 records, and by title none is a CJC-1295 trial. WADA's 2026 list places CJC-1295 under growth hormone releasing factors, S2.2.4, and not under S2.2.1, testosterone-stimulating peptides. A 2026 narrative review's table of hormone signals across growth hormone-axis peptides has no testosterone row (Dominikowski et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2026). The question is unstudied in the records searched, so neither an effect nor its absence can be claimed.

The records that mention both names are mostly reviews, doping-analysis papers and surveys of people using several products. Surveys of that kind cannot untangle one peptide from the others a person uses. That is the same confounding problem the 2026 review describes.

Can CJC-1295 cause insulin resistance?

None of the CJC-1295 human papers read for this page reports insulin resistance as a result, but blood sugar is a known question for the whole class. The US label for tesamorelin, an approved GHRH analogue for HIV-infected adults with lipodystrophy, carries a warning of glucose intolerance based on its clinical trials; the label passage read gives no denominator for its HbA1c figures, so this page does not repeat them, and the warning belongs to that medicine and not to CJC-1295 (Egrifta WR label, DailyMed, effective 29 July 2026). A 2026 narrative review describes the dysglycaemia signal as variable and the link to growth hormone excess as theoretical (Dominikowski et al., 2026).

The abstracts of the two main CJC-1295 human papers report hormone results and safety conclusions, and neither reports glucose or insulin results (Teichman et al., 2006; Ionescu and Frohman, 2006). Growth hormone is known to oppose insulin's action in the body, which is why the question is asked at all. No study found measured whether that holds for CJC-1295 in people over months.

Have studies tested strength with CJC-1295 and ipamorelin?

No. No published trial found for this page measures strength after CJC-1295, ipamorelin or the pair. The two cited CJC-1295 papers report hormone measurements in healthy adults, with no participant count in either abstract and no strength outcome reported there (Teichman et al., 2006; Ionescu and Frohman, 2006). The ipamorelin human data are a pharmacokinetic study of eight healthy men at each of five levels (Gobburu et al., Pharmaceutical Research, 1999) and a small phase 2 proof-of-concept trial of 117 enrolled patients after bowel surgery, 114 analysed, that found no significant efficacy difference from placebo on its key endpoint (Beck et al., International Journal of Colorectal Disease, 2014). A 2026 narrative review rates controlled evidence for performance outcomes in healthy people as limited (Dominikowski et al., 2026).

The muscle and body-composition record, including the mouse study and the tesamorelin trial, is set out on the page on what studies found CJC-1295 does.

Evidence limits

What are the downsides and unknowns of CJC-1295?

Each gap has its own page. The CJC-1295 side effects page sets out the adverse events recorded in studies and by regulators. The TGA's advisory of 13 April 2026 adds that unapproved peptide products have not been assessed for safety, quality or effectiveness, and that what they contain and what side effects they cause are among the unknowns.

How well studied is CJC-1295 compared with other growth hormone-releasing peptides?

A 2026 narrative review sorts growth hormone-axis peptides into four evidence tiers. Tesamorelin sits in tier A, supported by randomised trials within an approved indication. Dominikowski et al.'s 2026 narrative review assigns CJC-1295 with DAC to tier B and describes phase I studies in healthy adults without controlled efficacy data; this is that review's assessment. The same narrative review assigns CJC-1295 without DAC to tier D and reports finding no peer-reviewed human studies; that assessment does not establish that no such study exists (Dominikowski et al., Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2026). The tiers describe the amount of evidence in one review's reading. They do not rate how good a peptide is.

Whether a peptide is a good one is a judgement, not a study measurement. What can be said is how much has been tested, in whom, and for how long. For CJC-1295 with DAC that is short trials in healthy adults. For the without-DAC form it is nothing in people in the sources checked.

What is the legal and sport status of CJC-1295 in Australia?

The Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard—October 2026) Instrument 2026, F2026L01327, lists CJC-1295 with CAS No. 863288-34-0 in Schedule 4 and in Appendix D, clause 5, item 7, according to the Australian law guide, which read it on 1 October 2026 UTC. The Federal Register of Legislation shows the instrument in force on 14 October 2026. The entry names one CAS number and does not say which form it covers. WADA's 2026 list names CJC-1295 under S2.2.4. These entries are classifications. They do not decide anyone's legal position.

The TGA's advisory of 13 April 2026 names CJC-1295 as an example of an unapproved peptide product and states that a research-use-only label does not make supply lawful. Sport Integrity Australia's peptides page, read 14 October 2026, lists CJC-1295 among common unapproved peptides prohibited in sport.

Is research-use CJC-1295 the peptide in these studies?

Not necessarily. Published results describe the sponsor's trial product, tested in cells, animals or enrolled participants (Teichman et al., 2006). Research-use reference material is a laboratory compound with its own paperwork, and a certificate describes one sample and one lot. Research material is not a medicine, is not a substitute for one, and is not for human or animal use. A paper about the DAC form is background for naming, not evidence about a No DAC sample.

The catalogue lists CJC-1295 (No DAC) and ipamorelin reference material as one blend in a single vial, with the split unstated. A certificate of analysis describes one sample and does not carry a study's results across. The CJC-1295 and ipamorelin research guide covers the compound families.