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Hexarelin

Also known as Examorelin.

No large or long human safety trial exists. The human data come from small, short studies that were not designed to catch rare or long-term harm.

HisTrpAlaTrpPheLys
6 amino acids, in order. A double ring marks a mirror-image, modified or non-standard one. End caps, bridges and anything attached to the chain are not drawn. Source: PubChem.
Human evidence
Grade C

Small studies

Completed randomized trials
3+

The plus sign marks a floor: the record counts more trials than it lists.

Approved?
No

Not approved in the US or the EU

Sport (WADA)
Banned

On WADA's Prohibited List.

Checked on .

How we count a trial
Short answer

As of September 2026, the FDA and the EMA have not approved hexarelin. It has been studied in small human trials since the 1990s, and no large or long human safety trial exists. WADA bans it in sport at all times. It circulates as an unregulated research compound, and nothing on the outside of a vial tells you what is inside.

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What is hexarelin?

Hexarelin is a lab-made chain of six amino acids, designed in the early 1990s to make the pituitary gland release more growth hormone. Researchers studied it in small groups of healthy volunteers and patients. No drug company took it through to approval by the FDA or the EMA, and it circulates as an unregulated research compound.

Does hexarelin work?

In a 1994 study, hexarelin released growth hormone in healthy people. Nobody knows whether that leads to any benefit, and the record lists no human trial of muscle building or recovery.

What we found. 3+ completed randomized trials counted on the record. 2 human study rows and 1 animal row listed below, so the number shows with a plus sign until every trial is listed.

Studies on the hexarelin record: each study, what it was tested in, its status and what it shows.
Study of growth hormone release in healthy people, 1994PeoplePublishedHexarelin released growth hormone across the range tested
Comparison with GHRH (growth-hormone-releasing hormone) in people with and without glucocorticoid excess, 1995PeoplePublishedIt compared growth hormone release after hexarelin and after GHRH. The record gives no result
Heart study in rats after an induced heart attackAnimalsPublishedHeart function improved in the rats given hexarelin

The rat study cannot tell you what happens in a human heart.

How we count a trial

Is hexarelin safe?

Nobody knows. No large or long human safety trial exists. The human data come from small, short studies, and those were not designed to detect rare or long-term harm. The record names no side effects and lists no animal safety study. All of this concerns hexarelin as researchers gave it. A vial sold as a research compound raises a separate set of questions, covered below.

What is in a vial sold as hexarelin?

The record says hexarelin circulates as an unregulated research compound and is sometimes used for muscle building or recovery. Researchers ran the studies above, and this record lists no test of a vial sold that way. A "research use only" label guarantees nothing about purity. A certificate of analysis counts only if it names your lot number, a lab with no stake in the result, and the method used. Purity and identity are separate tests.

Three questions to ask the seller:

  1. Which lot number is this certificate for?
  2. Who ran the test, and are they independent of you?
  3. Does the report confirm identity by mass spectrometry, or purity alone?
Score a seller on 20 criteria

What don't we know?

  • Whether it is safe over the long term. No long human safety trial exists.
  • Whether it causes rare harms. The human studies were not designed to detect them.
  • Whether the heart finding in rats holds in people. No human study on this record tested it.
  • What is in any given vial.

The other side

A personal result is real to the person who had it. It is thin as evidence, because one person cannot tell the compound's effect from the vial's contents or from chance.

What would change this record?

  • A registered human safety trial lasting several weeks or longer, with side effects tracked in a systematic way.

Change log

  • Amino acid sequence corrected to His-D-Trp(2-Me)-Ala-Trp-D-Phe-Lys. The record had listed His-Trp-Ala-Trp-Phe-Lys. PubChem (opens in new tab)
  • Record checked. No change logged yet.
Every change on the Table

Three questions to ask next

Ask better questions.

More questions about hexarelin

Is hexarelin approved by the FDA?

No. It has no FDA approval and no EMA marketing authorisation. No drug company took it through to approval by either regulator.

Has hexarelin been tested in people?

Yes. The human trials have mostly been small, short studies of how it acts. They were not designed to establish long-term safety.

Is hexarelin banned in sport?

Yes, at all times. The record says WADA classes it as a prohibited growth-hormone-releasing peptide.

Is hexarelin the same as examorelin?

Yes. The record lists examorelin as another name for hexarelin.

Does hexarelin protect the heart?

Nobody knows in people. One study on this record found better heart function in rats after an induced heart attack. No human study on the record tested it.
Sources

Record checked on . Each source shows the date it was checked.

Growth hormone axis

In the same group

All 8 in this group
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