Indication assessment · §2
Growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology — evidence across compounds
Every compound the Institute assesses in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology, with its certainty rating.
§2Evidence across compounds
Every compound the Institute assesses in this indication, with the effect as recorded, the certainty rating and the contributing trials. Effects are reported on the anchor outcome where the contributing trials measured it and on the outcome the trial actually reported where they did not.
Table 1. Compounds assessed in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology, ordered by certainty.
| Compound | Effect as recorded | Interval as reported | Certainty | Trials |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHRP-2Growth-hormone secretagogue, ghrelin receptor agonist… | A peak growth hormone below 16 ng/mL after 100 µg intravenously supports severe adult growth-hormone deficiency in the approved Japanese diagnostic criteria | diagnostic threshold, not an efficacy estimate | Moderate | 1 |
| GonadorelinEndogenous decapeptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone | A luteinising hormone rise after gonadorelin distinguishes pituitary from hypothalamic causes of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism | diagnostic performance | Moderate | 1 |
| Kisspeptin-10Endogenous decapeptide, KISS1 receptor agonist | Diagnostic use as a probe of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal function | — | Moderate | 0 |
| SermorelinGrowth-hormone-releasing hormone fragment analogue | Peak stimulated growth hormone response used diagnostically; a peak below 5 µg/L after sermorelin supports pituitary rather than hypothalamic origin of deficiency | diagnostic performance, not an efficacy estimate | Moderate | 1 |
| TesamorelinGrowth-hormone-releasing hormone analogue | IGF-1 rose by a mean of 81 ng/mL, with 34 % of participants exceeding the upper limit of normal at some point | pharmacodynamic | Moderate | 1 |
| CJC-1295Growth-hormone-releasing hormone analogue with… | Mean IGF-1 increased 1.5- to 3.0-fold above baseline and remained elevated for 6 to 11 days after a single dose in a phase 1 study of 11 participants | phase 1, n = 11; no confidence limits reported for the primary pharmacodynamic outcome | Low | 2 |
| GHRP-6Growth-hormone secretagogue, non-selective ghrelin receptor… | Dose-dependent acute growth-hormone release with attenuation on repeated administration | pharmacodynamic | Low | 1 |
| HexarelinGrowth-hormone secretagogue, non-selective ghrelin receptor… | Marked acute growth-hormone release; the response attenuates substantially over 8 to 16 weeks of continuous administration | pharmacodynamic | Low | 2 |
| IpamorelinGrowth-hormone secretagogue, selective ghrelin receptor… | Dose-dependent growth-hormone release demonstrated in preclinical models and in early human study | pharmacodynamic; no confirmatory human efficacy estimate | Low | 2 |
| IGF-1 LR3Recombinant insulin-like growth factor 1 analogue | No randomised human evidence identified for this analogue | — | Very low | 0 |
| Estimates in this table are not on a common scale and must not be subtracted from one another. Where a comparison between two compounds has been made directly, it appears in a synthesis and not here. | ||||
Moderate or high certaintyLow or very low certainty
§2.1Syntheses bearing on this indication
- Clinical evidence for growth-hormone secretagogues supplied for research — Very low
- CJC-1295 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: effect on the anchor outcome — Low
- Gonadorelin in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: effect on the anchor outcome — Moderate
- Kisspeptin-10 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: effect on the anchor outcome — Moderate
- CJC-1295 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: tolerability and discontinuation — Low
- Gonadorelin in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: tolerability and discontinuation — Moderate
- Kisspeptin-10 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: tolerability and… — Moderate
- CJC-1295 in growth hormone deficiency and growth-hormone secretagogue pharmacology: durability of effect — Low
References cited on this page
References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.
- Raun K, Hansen BS, Johansen NL, Thøgersen H, Madsen K, Ankersen M, Andersen PH. Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue. European Journal of Endocrinology 1998;139(5):552–561. doi:10.1530/eje.0.1390552 · PMID 9849822
- 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. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2006;91(3):799–805. doi:10.1210/jc.2005-1536 · PMID 16352683
Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.
Compound Evidence Institute · CEI-IN-21/2 · https://compoundevidence.com/indications/ghd/evidence/ · retrieved 30 July 2026