A structured research digest on ipamorelin's safety record, combination stacks, and the evidence behind them.
Safe Ipamorelin

The literature

Ipamorelin references and sources

Every numbered citation used across this digest, with DOIs and PubMed identifiers.

About these sources

Every quantitative claim on this site maps to one of the numbered references below. The core ipamorelin findings — the 1998 founding characterization [1], the 1999 human pharmacokinetics [2], the 2014 Phase 2 trial [3], the rat bone-growth study [4], and the 2024 ferret study [5] — are ipamorelin-specific. Several combination-rationale and safety-context citations use related peptides (GHRP-6, GHRP-2) or a related GHS-R1a agonist to establish class-level principles; those are flagged in the body text wherever a combination or class claim is made, so no class-level result is presented as ipamorelin-specific. Full citation details, DOIs, and PubMed links follow.

  1. Raun K, Hansen BS, Johansen NL, Thogersen H, Madsen K, Ankersen M, Andersen PH. Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue. Eur J Endocrinol. 1998;139(5):552-561. ↗
  2. Gobburu JV, Agerso H, Jusko WJ, Ynddal L. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers. Pharm Res. 1999;16(9):1412-1416. ↗
  3. Beck DE, Sweeney WB, McCarter MD; Ipamorelin 201 Study Group. Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients. Int J Colorectal Dis. 2014;29(12):1527-1534. ↗
  4. Johansen PB, Nowak J, Skjaerbaek C, Flyvbjerg A, Andreassen TT, Wilken M, Orskov H. Ipamorelin, a new growth-hormone-releasing peptide, induces longitudinal bone growth in rats. Growth Horm IGF Res. 1999;9(2):106-113. ↗
  5. Lu Z, Ngan MP, Liu JYH, Yang L, Tu L, Chan SW, Giuliano C, Lovati E, Pietra C, Rudd JA. The growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a agonists, anamorelin and ipamorelin, inhibit cisplatin-induced weight loss in ferrets: Anamorelin also exhibits anti-emetic effects via a central mechanism. Physiol Behav. 2024;284:114644. ↗
  6. Stokes AH, Falls JG, Yoon L, Cariello N, Faiola B, Colton HM, Jordan HL, Berridge BR. Integrated approach to early detection of cardiovascular toxicity induced by a ghrelin receptor agonist. Int J Toxicol. 2015;34(2):151-161. ↗
  7. Camanni F, Ghigo E, Arvat E. Growth hormone-releasing peptides and their analogs. Front Neuroendocrinol. 1998;19(1):47-72. ↗
  8. Norman C, Rollene NL, Erickson D, Miles JM, Bowers CY, Veldhuis JD. Estradiol regulates GH-releasing peptide's interactions with GH-releasing hormone and somatostatin in postmenopausal women. Eur J Endocrinol. 2014;170(1):121-129. ↗
  9. Devesa J. The Complex World of Regulation of Pituitary Growth Hormone Secretion: The Role of Ghrelin, Klotho, and Nesfatins in It. Front Endocrinol. 2021;12:636403. ↗
  10. Rico M, Castillo C, Hernandez J. Effect of growth hormone-releasing peptide 1-6 on GH secretion-stimulated by GHRH and pyridostigmine in lambs. J Physiol Biochem. 1998;54(2):67-76. ↗
  11. Teichman SL, Neale A, Lawrence B, Gagnon C, Castaigne JP, Frohman LA. Prolonged stimulation of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I secretion by CJC-1295, a long-acting analog of GH-releasing hormone, in healthy adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91(3):799-805. ↗
  12. Tsivou M, Livadara D, Georgakopoulos DG, Koupparis MA, Atta-Politou J, Georgakopoulos CG. Doping control container for urine stabilization: a pilot study. Drug Test Anal. 2017;9(5):699-712. ↗
  13. Thomas A, Walpurgis K, Delahaut P, Kohler M, Schanzer W, Thevis M. Simplifying and expanding the screening for peptides <2 kDa by direct urine injection, liquid chromatography, and ion mobility mass spectrometry. J Sep Sci. 2016;39(2):333-341. ↗
  14. Semenistaya E, Zvereva I, Thomas A, Thevis M, Krotov G, Rodchenkov G. Solid-phase extraction of small biologically active peptides on cartridges and microelution 96-well plates from human urine. Drug Test Anal. 2016;8(9-10):940-949. ↗
  15. Thomas A, Hoppner S, Geyer H, Schanzer W, Petrou M, Kwiatkowska D, Pokrywka A, Thevis M. Determination of growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRP) and their major metabolites in human urine for doping controls by means of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2012;84(23):10252-10259. ↗
  16. Adeghate E, Ponery AS. Mechanism of ipamorelin-evoked insulin release from the pancreas of normal and diabetic rats. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2004;25(6):403-406. ↗
  17. Lall S, Tung LY, Ohlsson C, Jansson JO, Dickson SL. Growth hormone (GH)-independent stimulation of adiposity by GH secretagogues. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2001;280(1):132-138. ↗
  18. Lawrence CB, Snape AC, Baudoin FM, Luckman SM. Acute central ghrelin and GH secretagogues induce feeding and activate brain appetite centers. Endocrinology. 2002;143(1):155-162. ↗