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Ipamorelin

Also known as NNC 26-0161.

Dropped by its maker in the 1990s. Nearly all the human data are short studies in a few healthy volunteers.

AibHisNalPheLys
5 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
2
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 ipamorelin. Novo Nordisk developed it in the 1990s and shelved it. Nearly all the human evidence is short studies from the late 1990s in a small number of healthy volunteers. It is banned in sport. It is now popular in the unregulated research-peptide market, where a label cannot tell you what a vial holds.

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What is ipamorelin?

Ipamorelin is a lab-made chain of five amino acids, built to trigger growth hormone release. Novo Nordisk developed it in the 1990s and shelved it after early human studies. It has since become popular in the unregulated research-peptide market, where it is promoted for muscle growth and recovery.

Does ipamorelin work?

One study charted growth hormone release in healthy adults. Nobody knows whether that brings any benefit, because no large or long human trial of safety or benefit exists.

What we found. 2 completed randomized trials counted on the record. 3 papers listed below. One is a review, and the record does not say which rows hold the two counted trials.

Studies on the ipamorelin record: each study, what it was tested in, its status and what it shows.
1998 paper introducing ipamorelin as the first selective compound of its typePeoplePublished in 1998It described ipamorelin as favoring growth hormone release over cortisol, prolactin and appetite hormones
Modelling study of ipamorelin levels and growth hormone response in human volunteersPeoplePublishedIt charted the timing of growth hormone release in healthy adults
2020 review of compounds that prompt growth hormone release: their history, mechanism and clinical developmentPeoplePublished in 2020. A reviewIt notes that Novo Nordisk stopped developing ipamorelin as a drug candidate
How we count a trial

Is ipamorelin safe?

Nobody knows. The human safety data are limited to small, short studies from more than two decades ago. No large human safety trial has been run. The record lists no animal safety study. All of that concerns the compound as its maker studied it. A vial bought today is a different object, and it gets its own section below.

What is in a vial sold as ipamorelin?

Ipamorelin reaches people through the unregulated research-peptide market, where it is promoted for muscle growth and recovery. The human studies above come from its maker's 1990s program, and this record lists no test of a vial from that market. 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 a long period. No long human safety trial exists.
  • Whether it brings any benefit. No large human trial of benefit exists.
  • What it does in anyone other than healthy volunteers. Nearly all the human evidence comes from them.
  • What is in any given vial.

The other side

One person's result is real to that person. It cannot tell the compound apart from the vial, or from changes that had another cause.

What would change this record?

  • A newly sponsored, registered program of human trials, from Phase 1 onward, with long-term safety follow-up.

Change log

  • Record checked. No change logged yet.
Every change on the Table

Three questions to ask next

Ask better questions.

More questions about ipamorelin

Is ipamorelin approved by the FDA?

No. The FDA has not approved it, and it has no EMA marketing authorisation. Novo Nordisk shelved it as a drug candidate.

Has ipamorelin been tested in people?

Yes, in small, short studies. Nearly all of that evidence comes from the late 1990s and from a small number of healthy volunteers.

Is ipamorelin banned in sport?

Yes. The record places it in WADA's prohibited category with other compounds that trigger growth hormone release. It gives no class code and no timing.

Why did Novo Nordisk drop ipamorelin?

This record gives no reason. It says the company did not take ipamorelin to full approval and later shelved it.

Are any human trials of ipamorelin running now?

This record lists none. Its newest dated entry is a 2020 review.
Sources

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

Growth hormone axis

In the same group

All 8 in this group
Still curious

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