Sermorelin

Sermorelin is the original growth-hormone releaser in this lineup, an unmodified fragment of the same hormone your pituitary already listens to. A nightly shot nudges your own gland to keep releasing growth hormone and IGF-1 in its normal rhythm, rather than overriding it the way the newer, chemically reinforced versions do. It's usually where people start a growth-hormone-support protocol, before moving to something longer-acting or adding a second peptide. Dosed nightly through a compounding pharmacy, it's the cheapest and most familiar entry point in the category.

Growth Hormone · Anti-Aging · Wellness

What it does

Working with your own rhythm

For people who want the least engineered option, sermorelin is it: the native sequence, not a modified analog, so it stays subject to the body's own feedback loop instead of flooding it continuously. The idea is that this preserves a natural, pulsatile release rather than a steady override. Community dosing starts around 200 mcg a night and climbs over several weeks. It's also the fastest to clear the body, which is why it's a nightly shot rather than a weekly one.

Sources: peptidedosages.com, Sermorelin 5, Modified GRF (1-29).

Real trial evidence, twice over

Most of this category runs on community reports; sermorelin doesn't have to. It carries genuine randomized trial evidence: therapeutic daily dosing in children with growth hormone deficiency, and a two-week course in men aged 60 to 78 that partially reversed their age-related drop in growth hormone and IGF-1. That second trial is the closest thing this catalog has to controlled evidence for anti-aging use in adults. Neither use carries an FDA approval today.

Sources: Sermorelin: a review, Corpas E, Harman, 1992

History, not current approval

It's easy to assume sermorelin is currently FDA-approved, given how long it's been around. It actually held two approvals between 1990 and 2009, including for pediatric growth hormone deficiency, and the FDA's own statement is that the 2009 withdrawal wasn't about safety or effectiveness. That history is real, but it's history: every sermorelin product sold today, including the version in this catalog, comes from a compounding pharmacy rather than an active approval. Treat the track record as a reason for confidence, not a current stamp.

Sources: Determination That GEREF, 2013

Dosing

Community reportedCommunity titration (peptidedosages.com)200 mcg to 500 mcg, once daily at bedtime

Community titration (peptidedosages.com)
Timeframe	Dosage	Frequency	Note
Weeks 1-2	200 mcg	once daily at bedtime	Starting dose¹
Weeks 3-4	300 mcg	once daily at bedtime
Weeks 5-6	400 mcg	once daily at bedtime
Weeks 7-8	500 mcg	once daily at bedtime	Stated adult range ceiling²

Cycle length 3-6 months typical for adult off-label use.
Sermorelin's original FDA-approved product was discontinued; current adult use is compounded and off-label, per the source page's own framing.

Primary structure

YTyrAAlaDAspAAlaIIleFPheTThrNAsnSSerYTyrRArgKLysVValLLeuGGlyQGlnLLeuSSerAAlaRArgKLysLLeuLLeuQGlnDAspIIleMMetSSerRArgNH2

29 residues · 3358 g/mol

Full research

Evidence tier

Human trials, not approved for this use

Sermorelin has genuine randomized controlled trial evidence in both pediatric GH-deficiency and healthy-aging-adult populations, and it carries real FDA approval history, but no FDA approval currently exists for any sermorelin use today, diagnostic or therapeutic, because both NDAs were withdrawn in 2009; every present-day administration of sermorelin, including doses that mirror the old approved diagnostic-test dose, is therefore off-label.

Original dosing schedule

The Dosing table above this section now shows a community- or vendor-sourced schedule (peptidedosages.com). The regulatory-label or clinical-trial dosing this entry was originally built on is kept here, unchanged, rather than removed.

Clinical trial

Diagnostic provocative test, intravenous bolus (historical FDA-approved use)
Timeframe	Dosage	Frequency	Note
Single dose	1 mcg/kg	single IV bolus	Secondary-sourced¹

Sourced to a secondary review article (PubMed 18031173), not confirmed against the original FDA label text for NDA 19-863, which could not be independently retrieved (returned an HTTP 404 error). Flagged for primary-source verification.

Clinical trial

Pediatric idiopathic GH deficiency (RCT-supported, historically FDA-approved)
Timeframe	Dosage	Frequency	Note
3-36 months	30 mcg/kg	once daily at bedtime

Clinical trial

Adult healthy-aging (Corpas et al. 1992 RCT)
Timeframe	Dosage	Frequency	Note
14-day course	0.5-1 mg	twice daily	Men aged 60-78¹

A 14-day washout preceded a second 14-day treatment period in this crossover design.

Identity

Full name	Sermorelin acetate (INN: sermorelin)
Class	GHRH-receptor agonist, native-sequence human GHRH(1-29) fragment
Brand names	Geref, Geref Diagnostic
Molecular weight	3358 g/mol
Sequence	Tyr-Ala-Asp-Ala-Ile-Phe-Thr-Asn-Ser-Tyr-Arg-Lys-Val-Leu-Gly-Gln-Leu-Ser-Ala-Arg-Lys-Leu-Leu-Gln-Asp-Ile-Met-Ser-Arg-NH2

Mechanism of action

Plain language

This is a lab-made copy of the first 29 building blocks of the body's own natural growth-hormone-releasing hormone, unmodified, so it behaves the most like the real thing of anything in this category, but it also disappears from the blood the fastest.

Technical

GHRH-receptor agonist, native sequence, with no DPP-4-resistance substitutions and no albumin-binding chemistry, making it the shortest fully bioactive fragment of endogenous GHRH and the closest analog in this category to physiologic signaling. Because it remains subject to normal somatostatin negative feedback, unlike exogenous recombinant human GH, it is thought to preserve a pulsatile GH release pattern and to reduce the risk of pituitary tachyphylaxis relative to continuous stimulation. It is sometimes paired with the ghrelin-receptor agonist ipamorelin for the same class-level receptor-complementarity mechanism used elsewhere in this category.

What it’s used for

Human trials, not approved for this use

Historically FDA-approved, now withdrawn, as a diagnostic test for pituitary somatotroph capacity to secrete growth hormone in children suspected of growth hormone deficiency, administered as a single intravenous provocative-test dose.
Sources: Determination That GEREF, 2013, Sermorelin: a review
Historically FDA-approved, now withdrawn, for therapeutic daily dosing in pediatric idiopathic growth hormone deficiency, with direct randomized controlled trial support.
Sources: Sermorelin: a review
Randomized controlled trial support in healthy aging adults, to partially reverse the age-related decline in GH and IGF-1; this use was never FDA-approved.
Sources: Corpas E, Harman, 1992

Off-label / community use

Current wellness and anti-aging use through compounding pharmacies is off-label in every case, because no FDA approval currently exists for any sermorelin indication, diagnostic or therapeutic, since both of its NDAs were withdrawn in 2009.
Sources: Determination That GEREF, 2013

Pharmacokinetics

Half-life	Community reported, unsourced Approximately 11 to 12 minutes Sources: Modified GRF (1-29). No citable figure. No primary clinical-pharmacology publication reporting an exact human half-life value for sermorelin was independently retrieved. A related tertiary source describing native GRF(1-29) more generally cites a half-life under 10 minutes, possibly as low as 5 minutes. Treat the specific minute-level figure as approximate and secondary-sourced pending confirmation against the original Geref label's clinical pharmacology section, which could not be accessed directly.

Half-life

Community reported, unsourced

Approximately 11 to 12 minutes

Sources: Modified GRF (1-29).

No citable figure. No primary clinical-pharmacology publication reporting an exact human half-life value for sermorelin was independently retrieved. A related tertiary source describing native GRF(1-29) more generally cites a half-life under 10 minutes, possibly as low as 5 minutes. Treat the specific minute-level figure as approximate and secondary-sourced pending confirmation against the original Geref label's clinical pharmacology section, which could not be accessed directly.

Reconstitution

Vial strength	6 mg, 9 mg, or 15 mg lyophilized vial (compounded)
Diluent	Bacteriostatic water
Diluent volume	3 mL (6 mg vial, worked example)
Concentration	2 mg/mL (2000 mcg/mL) for a 6 mg vial reconstituted with 3 mL

Sources: Empower Pharmacy, Sermorelin

Storage and post-reconstitution stability

Unopened storage

Lyophilized powder stored per pharmacy instructions, described by the cited compounding-pharmacy source as room temperature, refrigerated, or frozen depending on the specific formulation, protected from light. None of this storage guidance is FDA-validated, because no FDA-approved sermorelin product currently exists.

Post-reconstitution stability – Vendor claim

Approximately 1 to 4 weeks. Refrigerated

Sources: Empower Pharmacy, Sermorelin

No citable figure. Per compounding-pharmacy labeling; no FDA-approved sermorelin product currently exists, so this figure is not regulatory-validated.

Safety

Notable risks

In the pediatric RCT literature reviewed, the most common adverse events were transient facial flushing and pain at the injection site, reported with both intravenous and subcutaneous administration.
Sources: Sermorelin: a review
No signal for serious adverse events was reported in the Corpas adult study or in the pediatric review identified in this research.
Sources: Corpas E, Harman, 1992, Sermorelin: a review
Because sermorelin stimulates endogenous GH and consequently IGF-1, the same class-level cautions applied to tesamorelin under its current FDA label, avoiding active malignancy and monitoring IGF-1 and glucose tolerance with sustained use, are reasonable extrapolations, but no FDA-approved label currently exists to formally establish contraindications or monitoring requirements for sermorelin, since both of its NDAs were withdrawn in 2009.
Sources: Determination That GEREF, 2013

Sources

This is a research and educational reference, not medical advice. Nothing on this site is a recommendation to use any compound.