Compare prices and buy peptides in the Growth Hormone & Muscle category from every research peptide vendor, supplier and source we index. Updated daily.
GHRH analogs, ghrelin-receptor secretagogues, IGF-1 variants, and myostatin inhibitors that modulate the GH axis and skeletal-muscle growth signaling.
Growth hormone release from the anterior pituitary is set by two opposing hypothalamic signals: growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), which drives pulsatile secretion, and somatostatin, which suppresses it. A third input, the ghrelin receptor GHSR-1a, amplifies release through a separate pathway. Most peptides in this category act on one of those two stimulatory routes, or on the IGF-1 signaling that sits downstream of growth hormone itself.
The practical consequence is that none of these compounds is growth hormone. The secretagogues act on the pituitary's own secretory apparatus, which keeps releasing growth hormone in pulses, so the response depends on a functioning pituitary.
GHRH analogs bind the GHRH receptor and reproduce the hypothalamic signal. Sermorelin, CJC-1295 No DAC, CJC-1295 With DAC and Tesamorelin are all fragments or modified versions of native GHRH.
Ghrelin-receptor agonists act on GHSR-1a instead: ipamorelin and the growth hormone releasing peptides, or GHRPs, hexarelin, GHRP-2 and GHRP-6. Selectivity is what separates them, chiefly how far each also raises ACTH, cortisol and prolactin.
Because the two families act on different receptors, their effects can add up. In healthy men, native GHRH given together with a GHRP released more growth hormone than either peptide alone. Vendors also sell premixed pairs of newer analogs, such as CJC-1295 + ipamorelin, and no controlled study has tested those pairings.
IGF-1, which growth hormone raises, mediates some but not all of its effects on tissue and is the target of a second group. IGF-1 LR3 and IGF-1 DES are IGF-1 analogs altered to bind less to the IGF binding proteins that restrain the native hormone, IGF-1 DES by lacking the first three residues.
MGF, mechano growth factor, is named for an IGF-1 splice variant expressed in stretched skeletal muscle, and vendors sell a synthetic peptide based on that variant's E domain. PEG-MGF is a pegylated version of it. HGH Frag 176-191 is the C-terminal fragment of growth hormone, studied in rodents for effects on fat metabolism. AOD-9604, catalogued under GLP Agonist and Weight Loss, is a modified version of the same fragment.
Only tesamorelin holds a current FDA approval. Sermorelin was approved in the past, but its approvals were withdrawn. Nothing else in this category is an approved drug in the United States.
One compounding change did land in 2026. On April 15, 2026 the FDA announced the removal of twelve peptides from Category 2 under its Section 503A interim policy, effective seven days later, and PEG-MGF was among them. Removal from Category 2 is not authorization: a substance still needs Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee review before it can reach the permitted list, and PEG-MGF was not among the seven the committee took up in July 2026.
Anti-doping status is more uniform than approval status. GHRH analogs, growth hormone secretagogues, GHRPs and IGF-1 analogs all fall inside the World Anti-Doping Agency's S2 class covering peptide hormones, growth factors and their releasing factors, prohibited at all times both in and out of competition.
Two entries target the myostatin axis rather than the growth hormone axis. The research peptide sold as ACE-031 is a 24-residue fragment derived from the mouse myostatin prodomain, which binds myostatin in laboratory studies. It shares only a name with Acceleron Pharma's ACE-031 (ramatercept), an activin receptor type IIB decoy fusion protein.
Follistatin 344 reaches the same axis differently, binding and neutralizing myostatin along with activin A and activin B directly in the extracellular space. It sits inside the World Anti-Doping Agency's ban on agents preventing activin receptor IIB activation, which names myostatin-binding proteins such as follistatin explicitly.
DAC stands for drug affinity complex, a maleimidopropionamide-lysine unit designed to bond to serum albumin after injection. CJC-1295 with DAC has a half-life measured in days. CJC-1295 without DAC is the same modified GRF 1-29 sequence without that unit. FDA identified no studies establishing that it is pharmacologically active, and none comparing its half-life with the DAC form's. They are different molecules with different molecular formulas, and PeptideScouter indexes them as separate rows so their per-milligram prices stay comparable. A listing labelled only CJC-1295, with no further qualifier, is usually the no-DAC form, which vendors also label Mod GRF 1-29. The DAC version is normally marked explicitly.
They act on two different receptors. CJC-1295 is a GHRH analog meant to act at the GHRH receptor, while ipamorelin is a growth hormone secretagogue and binds the ghrelin receptor GHSR-1a. Because the two signals reach the same pituitary output through separate receptors, a growth hormone-releasing peptide given together with GHRH released more growth hormone in healthy men than either did alone. That study used GHRP-6 and native GHRH, neither of which is in the blend, and no controlled trial has tested CJC-1295 with ipamorelin, so the pairing is a market convention rather than a pharmacological one.
Only tesamorelin holds a current FDA approval, as Egrifta, to reduce excess abdominal fat in HIV-infected adults with lipodystrophy. Sermorelin was approved in the past as Geref, but its approvals were withdrawn, and FDA later determined the products were not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness. None of the other compounds in PeptideScouter's growth hormone and muscle category is an FDA-approved drug.
Yes, comprehensively. The World Anti-Doping Agency S2 class covers growth hormone, its fragments and its releasing factors, and it names GHRH analogs such as CJC-1295, sermorelin and tesamorelin, growth hormone secretagogues such as ipamorelin, and the GH-releasing peptides including GHRP-2, GHRP-6 and hexarelin. IGF-1 and its analogs are covered by the same class. Everything in S2 is prohibited at all times, in and out of competition, so there is no permitted window. Myostatin-binding proteins such as follistatin are banned separately, under the prohibition on agents preventing activin receptor IIB activation.
47 vendors tracked by PeptideScouter sell Growth Hormone & Muscle peptides, across 529 listings covering 17 compounds. The widest Growth Hormone & Muscle catalogs belong to Swiss Chems (15 peptides), Alpha Peptides (14 peptides), Biotech Compounds (13 peptides). Prices are normalized to USD per milligram and refreshed daily.
Growth Hormone & Muscle peptides indexed on PeptideScouter have a median price of $9.00/mg, ranging from $3.99/mg to $134.99/mg across the 17 peptides in the category. Pricing is normalized across vendors and refreshed daily.
GHRP-2 carries the lowest median price in the Growth Hormone & Muscle category at $3.99/mg across 14 listings. Its cheapest in-stock listing is $2.34/mg at Iron Protocol. Per-milligram price varies widely between compounds in a category, so the cheapest per mg is not necessarily the cheapest vial or the right compound for a given experiment.
The most widely sold Growth Hormone & Muscle peptides on PeptideScouter (by vendor count) are: Tesamorelin, CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin Blend, Ipamorelin, Sermorelin, CJC-1295 No DAC. Each peptide page shows current pricing across every tracked vendor, normalized to USD per milligram.
