- Both are GHRH analogues acting at the same receptor — the difference is in the modification, not the target.
- Tesamorelin holds a US approval for one specific indication. CJC-1295 holds none anywhere.
- An approval for one indication says nothing about any other, and a US approval is not a UK licence.
- Both sit in WADA category S2 and are prohibited at all times, approval or not.
These two get compared constantly and the comparison is a reasonable one, because unlike most pairings in this field they genuinely are the same kind of molecule. This is what separates them, for material supplied for laboratory research use only.
The same target
Both are analogues of growth-hormone-releasing hormone, the hypothalamic peptide that acts on the pituitary. Both bind the same receptor. Neither is a growth hormone itself, which is a distinction worth holding on to — a releasing-hormone analogue acts upstream of the hormone rather than substituting for it.
That shared target is why they appear together in the same WADA category and why the literature discusses them in the same context.
Different modifications
What differs is what has been done to the base sequence.
Tesamorelin is a stabilised analogue with a modification at the N-terminus that resists enzymatic degradation. It went through clinical development as a pharmaceutical product, which is the origin of its approval.
CJC-1295 in its DAC form carries a Drug Affinity Complex that binds serum albumin, which extends its persistence by orders of magnitude rather than by a margin. We cover what that group does and why the naming around it is a mess in CJC-1295 with DAC vs without.
So both solve the same problem — a native GHRH sequence is cleared very quickly — by different chemistry.
The regulatory difference is the real one
This is where the two genuinely part company.
Tesamorelin holds a US approval, granted in 2010, for one specific indication in one specific population. It is marketed there under a brand name.
CJC-1295 holds no approval anywhere and never completed development.
Two things follow, and both get misread constantly. First, an approval for one indication says nothing about any other — approval is always for a specified use, not a general clearance of the molecule. Second, a US approval is not a UK licence. Tesamorelin has no UK marketing authorisation, which means that in this country it sits in the same unlicensed position as everything else on this site as far as advertising law is concerned.
The full position compound by compound is in FDA approved, MHRA licensed, or neither.
Anti-doping treats them identically
Whatever the approval difference, both are prohibited at all times under WADA category S2, which names growth hormone releasing factors directly. Tesamorelin's approval does not change that — the prohibited list is not a list of unapproved substances, and S2 exists precisely for compounds in this class.
That is set out in which peptides are on the WADA prohibited list.
What this comparison cannot tell you
You will notice this article says nothing about which to choose or what either does. That is not evasion. Neither is licensed for use in a person in the UK, and describing effects would be advertising an unlicensed medicinal product.
What is checkable is what is in a given container: identity, measured content, and purity where the material is a single compound. We supply CJC-1295 DAC 10 mg and Tesamorelin 32 mg, each with its own batch report and a verification key that resolves on the laboratory's own site.
Questions this article answers
Are CJC-1295 and tesamorelin the same?
No, though they are the same kind of molecule. Both are GHRH analogues acting at the same receptor, but they use different chemistry to resist clearance — tesamorelin a stabilising N-terminal modification, CJC-1295 DAC an albumin-binding complex.
Is tesamorelin FDA approved?
It holds a US approval granted in 2010 for one specific indication in one specific population. That is not a general clearance of the molecule, and it is not a UK licence — tesamorelin has no UK marketing authorisation.
Is CJC-1295 approved anywhere?
No. It entered clinical development and did not reach approval in any jurisdiction.
Does tesamorelin's approval affect its anti-doping status?
No. Both are prohibited at all times under WADA category S2, which names growth hormone releasing factors directly. The prohibited list is not a list of unapproved substances, and approval in one country does not remove a compound from it.
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Name a compound and we'll send the manufacturer's HPLC-MS certificate for the batch you would receive — before you order, no account needed.