Pinc PeptideThe girly peptide research blog

Ipamorelin · Dose evidence · updated 8 October 2026

Ipamorelin dosage: what studies actually used

The short answer

No ipamorelin dose is established for any use, and no FDA-approved product contains it2. Every published human dose with a stated amount was given into a vein: single 15-minute infusions in healthy men, and 0.03 mg/kg twice a day for up to 7 days after bowel surgery; an anti-doping study also gave one volunteer a nasal dose whose amount its abstract does not give345. Clinics have offered it as injections under the skin, nasal sprays, tablets and troches, and FDA found no human data on blood levels, safety or benefit for the under-the-skin route2. This page reports those doses and is not dosing advice. Vials sold online are another matter: 52 of Finnrick’s latest 200 ipamorelin tests failed, and 2 were incomplete6.

Not dosing advice. This page reports doses that studies and approved labels used, with their sources. It does not recommend a dose, and we do not give mixing, injection or unit-conversion instructions. Gray-market vials often do not contain what their label says. How we report doses.

Every dose studied in people

StudyWhoPeopleDose and routeWhat happened
Helsinn Phase 2 dose-finding trial (NCT01280344), randomized and placebo-controlled; no results posted Adults aged 18 to 85 after open partial bowel resection 320 0.03 mg/kg twice a day, 0.06 mg/kg twice a day or 0.06 mg/kg three times a day, or placebo
Infusion into a vein · Outcomes measured for up to 10 days		 The trial was completed in May 20147. As of 8 October 2026 its registry record, last updated 13 April 2017, posts no results, and we found no publication of them17.
Beck 2014 (NCT00672074), Phase 2 randomized placebo-controlled trial Adults having small or large bowel resection, by open or laparoscopic surgery 114 0.03 mg/kg twice a day, or placebo
Infusion into a vein · From the day after surgery until day 7 or discharge		 Median time to the first tolerated solid meal was 25.3 hours on ipamorelin and 32.6 hours on placebo (p = 0.15), and no key or secondary outcome differed significantly4. FDA’s review notes more low potassium (12.5% vs 3.4%) and high blood sugar at discharge (14.3% vs 8.6%) on ipamorelin, and two deaths in the ipamorelin group whose link to the drug it called unclear2.
Gobburu 1999, randomized placebo-controlled dose-escalation study Healthy men; at each dose level, 6 on drug and 2 on placebo, per FDA 40 One dose of 4.21, 14.02, 42.13, 84.27 or 140.45 nmol/kg (nanomoles per kg of body weight), or placebo
Infusion into a vein over 15 minutes · Single dose		 Blood levels rose in proportion to dose, and each dose caused one burst of growth hormone (GH) that then fell to negligible levels3. FDA’s review says the lowest-dose group was left out of the analysis because its GH levels were negligible, and that the paper did not mention any side effects2.
Semenistaya 2015, anti-doping metabolism study One volunteer 1 One nasal dose; the amount is not given in the abstract
In the nose · Urine collected for 2 days		 Ipamorelin was heavily broken down, and a fragment, ipamorelin (1-4) free acid, was still found in urine after the intact drug had cleared5. The abstract reports no effects or safety outcomes5.

Studies, animals and users: kept apart

Doses below are what studies used or what a label says. They are not advice, and gray-market products may not contain what their label says.

In human studies

Healthy men: one 15-minute IV infusion of 4.21 to 140.45 nmol/kg3. Surgery patients: 0.03 mg/kg IV twice daily for up to 7 days4. The unpublished dose-finding trial compared 0.03 mg/kg twice daily, 0.06 mg/kg twice daily and 0.06 mg/kg three times daily, all IV7. We found no human study of doses under the skin, by mouth or by nose for any purpose people use it for, and FDA found no human safety data for the under-the-skin route12.

In animal studies

Rats: 18, 90 or 450 µg/day under the skin, split into three daily injections, for 15 days9; 0.5 mg/kg per day by continuous under-the-skin pump for 12 weeks10; 100 µg/kg three times daily under the skin for 3 months, with a steroid11; 0.01 to 1 mg/kg IV after abdominal surgery12. Pigs: GH release with a half-maximal dose of 2.3 nmol/kg, and no ACTH or cortisol rise at more than 200 times that dose13. Rats: about 20% of a nasal dose was absorbed14.

What users report Anecdotal · not validated · not a recommendation

A 2026 medical review compiled bodybuilding-forum reports: 200 to 300 µg under the skin, 2 or 3 times a day8.

Half-life and how it is taken

Half-life
About 2 hours after an IV dose; none found for other routes3Terminal half-life of about 2 hours after a 15-minute IV infusion in healthy men; the GH burst it triggers peaks at about 40 minutes. In rats given an IV dose, FDA’s review cites a half-life of about 27 minutes. FDA found no human blood-level data for under-the-skin use, the route most people use.
Routes
  • Intravenous infusion (the only route with published clinical data we found: healthy volunteers and surgery patients)
  • Subcutaneous injection (the usual clinic and gray-market route; we found no published human studies, only adverse-event reports)
  • Nasal spray (sold by compounders per FDA; about 20% absorbed in rats; one volunteer in an anti-doping study)
  • Oral tablets and troches (advertised by clinics per FDA’s 2024 review; no human data found)

What the published doses leave unknown

The studies set doses by body weight, in nmol or mg per kg34. The one trial built to compare doses for a clinical effect has posted no results, and we found no publication of them, so we found no published human trial that shows whether one dose works better than another17.

In its 2024 review for its compounding advisers, FDA found no data on blood levels or GH response for injection under the skin, the form proposed to it, and none for any route other than the vein2. It also found no safety or effectiveness data for the under-the-skin route2. So we found no measurement in people of how much of an under-the-skin, nasal or oral dose reaches the blood, or what it does12.

The healthy-volunteer study gave one dose each, so it does not show what repeated doses do3. FDA noted that ongoing exposure may not keep stimulating GH, and that the men studied had normal pituitary function, so people with growth hormone deficiency may not respond the same way2.

Why gray-market vials make doses unreliable

Finnrick lists 441 ipamorelin tests from 92 vendors between 13 February 2025 and 24 September 20266. Of the latest 200, from 11 December 2025 on, 146 passed, 52 failed and 2 were incomplete6. Its default pass mark is purity of at least 99.5% with the measured amount within 35% of the label, and senders choose what to test, so this is not a random survey6.

A vial may also hold something else: doping-control labs have found glycine-extended ipamorelin, a look-alike with an extra amino acid, in black-market products and customs seizures1516. In 2024 FDA found that the certificate of analysis given to it lacked tests for impurities, clumping and bacterial toxins2.

Questions people ask

How much ipamorelin should I take?

No dose is established for any use, and no FDA-approved product contains ipamorelin2. The only published human doses with a stated amount were given into a vein: single infusions of 4.21 to 140.45 nmol/kg in healthy men, and 0.03 mg/kg twice a day after bowel surgery34. US pharmacies may not compound ipamorelin171819.

Is ipamorelin injected under the skin?

Clinics offer it that way, and injection under the skin was the form proposed when FDA was asked to allow compounding, but neither FDA’s 2024 review nor our PubMed search found a human study that used that route12. FDA’s 2024 review found no human data on blood levels, safety or benefit for under-the-skin use2.

Does nasal ipamorelin work?

We found no test of whether it works: FDA found no effectiveness data for any route other than the vein12. The only human nasal use on record is one volunteer in an anti-doping study of urine breakdown products, and its abstract gives no dose5.

Can you take ipamorelin by mouth?

We found no human study that gave it by mouth, and FDA found no blood-level data for any route other than the vein12. FDA’s review notes that clinics have advertised tablets and troches2.

How long were people given ipamorelin in studies?

The longest human course was twice a day by vein for up to 7 days after bowel surgery4. The healthy-volunteer study gave a single dose, and we found no published human study of longer use13.

Go deeper

Sources

  1. 1PubMed search: ipamorelin (54 results) National Library of Medicine (PubMed), accessed 8 Oct 2026. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. 2FDA Briefing Document, Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting of October 29, 2024: ipamorelin-related bulk drug substances (FDA evaluation dated 19 August 2024) U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 19 Aug 2024. fda.gov
  3. 3Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers Pharmaceutical Research, Sep 1999. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  4. 4Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the Ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients International Journal of Colorectal Disease, Dec 2014. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  5. 5Determination of growth hormone releasing peptides metabolites in human urine after nasal administration of GHRP-1, GHRP-2, GHRP-6, Hexarelin, and Ipamorelin Drug Testing and Analysis, Oct 2015. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  6. 6Ipamorelin: safety testing results and vendor ratings Finnrick, 24 Sep 2026. finnrick.com
  7. 7Safety and Efficacy of Ipamorelin Compared to Placebo for the Recovery of Gastrointestinal Function (NCT01280344) ClinicalTrials.gov, 13 Apr 2017. clinicaltrials.gov
  8. 8The emerging landscape of performance-enhancing peptides modulating GH-IGF1 axis: bridging the gap between clinical evidence and patient self-administration Frontiers in Endocrinology, 18 Jun 2026. frontiersin.org
  9. 9Ipamorelin, a new growth-hormone-releasing peptide, induces longitudinal bone growth in rats Growth Hormone & IGF Research, Apr 1999. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  10. 10The GH secretagogues ipamorelin and GH-releasing peptide-6 increase bone mineral content in adult female rats Journal of Endocrinology, Jun 2000. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  11. 11The growth hormone secretagogue ipamorelin counteracts glucocorticoid-induced decrease in bone formation of adult rats Growth Hormone & IGF Research, Oct 2001. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  12. 12Efficacy of ipamorelin, a novel ghrelin mimetic, in a rodent model of postoperative ileus Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Jun 2009. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  13. 13Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue European Journal of Endocrinology, Nov 1998. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  14. 14Pharmacokinetic evaluation of ipamorelin and other peptidyl growth hormone secretagogues with emphasis on nasal absorption Xenobiotica, Nov 1998. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  15. 15Analysis of new growth promoting black market products Growth Hormone & IGF Research, Aug 2018. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  16. 16Glycine-modified growth hormone secretagogues identified in seized doping material Drug Testing and Analysis, Feb 2019. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  17. 17Bulk Drug Substances Nominated for Use in Compounding Under Section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (categories list) U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 14 May 2026. fda.gov
  18. 18Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding that May Present Significant Safety Risks U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 22 Apr 2026. fda.gov
  19. 19Bulk Drug Substances Nominated for Use in Compounding Under Section 503B of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (categories list) U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 21 Mar 2025. fda.gov

Not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician before using any drug. Report an error.