Ipamorelin vs sermorelin

Quick answer

If you are deciding between the two, the legal gap matters more than the biology. Ipamorelin was reviewed by FDA's advisers and voted down, and it cannot be compounded under 503A ^{[2] [1]}. Sermorelin was never reviewed by that committee, is not on any of FDA's 503A category lists, and is sold by telehealth companies as a compounded drug ^[1]. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, and FDA does not review them for safety, effectiveness or quality before they are sold ^[15]. No study we found compares ipamorelin with sermorelin directly.

Side by side

Ipamorelin vs sermorelin, checked Oct 25, 2026

	Ipamorelin	Sermorelin
What it is	Growth hormone secretagogue [6]	Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) analog [6]
FDA-approved product	None found [1]	None today. Geref was approved, then withdrawn effective June 18, 2009 at the maker's request [4]
Legal to compound	No. Not in Category 1 or on the 503A bulks list [1]	Not confirmed. Not on any 503A list, and FDA has not said whether its old approval counts [1] [5]
FDA committee review	0-12-1 against, Oct 29, 2024 [2]	None found
Human evidence	One 114-patient surgery trial, no significant benefit [7]	Small studies of 10 to 19 older adults over 2 to 16 weeks [8] [9]
Safety findings FDA posted	Serious adverse events including death in a published study of IV use [3]	FDA found Geref was not withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons [4]
Sports (WADA)	Banned at all times, class S2 [6]	Banned at all times, class S2 [6]
How to get it legally	No legal route [1]	Prescription for a compounded product; legal basis not confirmed [5]
Price	No legal price [1]	$119 to $179 a month at two sellers, checked Oct 25, 2026 [10] [11]

Legal status

FDA placed ipamorelin acetate in Category 2, its significant-safety-risk group, on Sept 29, 2023 ^[14] and brought it to the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee on Oct 29, 2024. The vote was 0 yes, 12 no and 1 abstain on both ipamorelin and ipamorelin acetate ^[2]. Members cited "a lack of information supporting safety and efficacy" ^[2]. FDA now lists it as nominated but withdrawn, and ipamorelin acetate is still in Category 2 for 503B outsourcing facilities ^[3]. The full record is on our CJC-1295 and ipamorelin page.

Sermorelin's history is different. Geref vials were approved on Sept 26, 1997 "for the treatment of idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in children with growth failure," and an ampule version was approved in 1990 for testing whether the pituitary can release growth hormone ^[4]. The maker, EMD Serono, stopped selling both, and FDA withdrew approval effective June 18, 2009 ^[4]. In 2013, FDA determined both were "not withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness" ^[4]. Under 503A, a pharmacy may compound with a bulk substance that is a component of an FDA-approved drug, but FDA's page does not say whether that covers a drug whose approval was withdrawn ^[5]. Our sermorelin page follows that question.

Legal status of Ipamorelin

Not allowed in compounding

Ipamorelin cannot be legally compounded ^[1]. An FDA advisory committee voted against it in October 2024 ^[2], and we found no new review scheduled ^[16].

FDA status

FDA placed it in Category 2 on Sept 29, 2023 ^[14]. FDA now lists it as "nominated but withdrawn," which is outside every category ^[3]. We could not confirm when the nomination was withdrawn. It was not one of the 12 peptides FDA removed from Category 2 in April 2026 ^[17]. It is not in Category 1 and is not on the 503A bulks list, so a 503A pharmacy may not lawfully compound it today ^[1]. Ipamorelin acetate is also still in Category 2 for 503B outsourcing facilities ^[3]. FDA says a published study identified serious adverse events, including death, when ipamorelin was given intravenously ^[3].

Advisory committee

On Oct 29, 2024, the committee voted 0 yes, 12 no and 1 abstain on both ipamorelin and ipamorelin acetate ^[2].

FDA-approved products

None. We found no FDA-approved drug that contains Ipamorelin.

Sports (WADA)

Prohibited under class S2 as a growth hormone secretagogue. Ipamorelin is named ^[6].

What happens next

We found no pending FDA review. It is not on the July 2026 agenda or the five-peptide list planned for before the end of February 2027 ^{[18] [16]}. A new nomination or another FDA action would be needed before a pharmacy could compound it ^[5].

Checked against FDA sources on Oct 24, 2026. We update this box when FDA acts. Report a change: [email protected].

Legal status of Sermorelin

Not confirmed

Sermorelin was the active ingredient in Geref, an FDA-approved drug whose approval FDA withdrew in 2009 at the maker's request ^[4]. We could not find an FDA statement on whether pharmacies may compound it, so its status is not confirmed ^[1].

FDA status

Sermorelin is not on any of FDA's 503A category lists ^[1]. It was the active ingredient in Geref. The maker stopped selling Geref, and FDA withdrew its approval at the maker's request, effective June 18, 2009 ^[4]. In 2013, FDA determined that Geref was not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness ^[4]. Under 503A, a pharmacy may compound with a bulk substance that is a component of an FDA-approved drug when no USP or NF monograph exists ^[5]. FDA's 503A page does not say whether a drug whose approval was withdrawn counts ^[5]. We found no FDA statement applying this rule to sermorelin, so we list its status as not confirmed.

Advisory committee

We found no advisory committee review of sermorelin.

FDA-approved products

None. Geref was FDA-approved, but FDA withdrew its approval in 2009 after the maker stopped selling it ^[4].

Sports (WADA)

Prohibited under class S2 as a growth hormone releasing hormone analog. Sermorelin is named ^[6].

What happens next

FDA would need to state whether sermorelin qualifies as a component of an approved drug, or act on it another way. We found no pending FDA action.

Checked against FDA sources on Oct 19, 2026. We update this box when FDA acts. Report a change: [email protected].

What the research shows

Ipamorelin

The largest human trial we found tested intravenous ipamorelin in 117 adults after bowel surgery, with 114 in the main analysis. Median time to the first solid meal people could keep down was 25.3 hours on ipamorelin and 32.6 hours on placebo, a gap that was not statistically significant (p = 0.15) ^[7]. Side effects of any kind were reported by 87.5% on ipamorelin and 94.8% on placebo ^[7]. That trial says nothing about the uses ipamorelin is sold for online, such as muscle, fat loss or sleep, and we found no controlled trial of those uses.

Sermorelin

Studies in older adults were small and short. In a 1992 study, 10 healthy older men (average age 68) took GHRH-(1-29) for 14 days; the higher dose raised growth hormone and IGF-1 to levels like those of young men, and the study did not measure body composition ^[8]. A 1997 study gave a modified form, [Nle27]GHRH-(1-29), to 19 adults aged 55 to 71 for 16 weeks. Lean body mass rose in the men only, skin thickness rose in both sexes, and transient high blood fats were reported ^[9]. Neither study tested strength, longevity or long-term safety, and neither used the compounded products sold today.

Known risks

• Ipamorelin: FDA says a published study "identified serious adverse events including death" when ipamorelin was given intravenously ^[3]. No large controlled trial gives side effect rates for the products sold online.
• Sermorelin: FDA found Geref was not withdrawn for safety reasons ^[4], but compounded sermorelin is not FDA-approved and is not the same product as Geref. In the 1997 study, transient high blood fats were reported ^[9].
• Both: Banned at all times for tested athletes under WADA class S2 ^[6].

Price

Ipamorelin has no legal price, because no pharmacy may compound it ^[1] and we found no approved drug that contains it. Compounded sermorelin was listed at $119 a month on a 12-month plan ($1,428 upfront) to $159 month to month at PlexusDx ^[10], and $149 a month on a 3-month plan ($447 upfront) or $179 for a single month at Rx.com, which names Manifest Pharmacy as its dispenser, checked Oct 25, 2026 ^[11]. Those prices are for a product whose legal basis FDA has not confirmed. More prices and their caveats: legal peptide price tracker.

"Research use only" vials of either peptide are not a legal workaround; FDA rejected that label in a 2025 warning letter ^[12]. We do not link to those sellers.

The approved drug in this family

Tesamorelin, sold as Egrifta WR, is an FDA-approved GHRH analog, but only to reduce excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV who have lipodystrophy; its label says it is not for weight loss ^[13]. See tesamorelin. For growth hormone itself, see sermorelin vs HGH, and for every peptide's status, the peptide FDA status tracker.

How we check

Legal status comes from FDA's 503A categories document, its safety-risk page and committee minutes, through our peptide status file. Study results come from the published abstracts. Prices come from the sellers' own pages on Oct 25, 2026; listing a price is not an endorsement. Our method: editorial standards.