Sermorelin reference library
The most useful place to start depends on which part of the argument is in doubt.
Clinical experiments
For the direct human results, start with Thorner’s child-growth trial, Corpas’s older-men hormone study and Wilton’s intravenous and intranasal pharmacokinetics. I would put Tauber’s continuous-infusion study beside them: its declining response complicates a simple success story.
The antibody findings in Chen’s pediatric comparison and the longer observations in Lanes’s childhood study make the safety discussion more concrete. These papers address different designs and observation periods.
Analytical methods and FDA guidance
The Pont urine method, Thomas peptide-screening procedure and Uçaktürk urine-analysis method concern analytical detection. For compounding, the relevant documents are FDA’s bulk-substance categories and the interim Section 503A guidance.
I treat the FDA documents as descriptions of a regulatory framework. The clinical experiments supply a different kind of evidence. The full bibliography follows.
- Thorner M, Rochiccioli P, Colle M, Lanes R, Grunt J, Galazka A, Landy H, Eengrand P, Shah S. Once daily subcutaneous growth hormone-releasing hormone therapy accelerates growth in growth hormone-deficient children during the first year of therapy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996;81(3):1189-1196. ↗
- Corpas E, Harman SM, Pineyro MA, Roberson R, Blackman MR. Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone-(1-29) twice daily reverses the decreased GH and insulin-like growth factor-I levels in old men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1992;75(2):530-535. ↗
- Wilton P, Chardet Y, Danielson K, Widlund L, Gunnarsson R. Pharmacokinetics of growth hormone-releasing hormone(1-29)-NH2 and stimulation of growth hormone secretion in healthy subjects after intravenous or intranasal administration. Acta Paediatr Suppl. 1993;388:10-15. ↗
- Walker RF. Sermorelin: a better approach to management of adult-onset growth hormone insufficiency? Clin Interv Aging. 2006;1(4):307-308. ↗
- Blackman MR. Use of growth hormone secretagogues to prevent or treat the effects of aging: not yet ready for prime time. Ann Intern Med. 2008;149(9):677-679. ↗
- Baker LD, Barsness SM, Borson S, Merriam GR, Friedman SD, Craft S, Vitiello MV. Effects of growth hormone-releasing hormone on cognitive function in adults with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults: results of a controlled trial. Arch Neurol. 2012;69(11):1420-1429. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00257712. ↗
- Esposito S, et al. Advances in the detection of growth hormone releasing hormone synthetic analogs. Drug Test Anal. 2021. ↗
- Thomas A, et al. Qualitative identification of growth hormone-releasing hormones in human plasma by means of immunoaffinity purification and LC-HRMS/MS. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2016;408(13):3457-3464. ↗
- Pont L, Alechaga É, Terrero A, et al. Comparison of magnetic bead surface functionalities for the immunopurification of growth hormone-releasing hormones prior to liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A. 2020;1631:461548. ↗
- Svensson J, et al. The GH secretagogues ipamorelin and GH-releasing peptide-6 increase bone mineral content in adult female rats. J Endocrinol. 2000;165(3):569-577. ↗
- Lee H, et al. PEGylation of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GRF) analogues. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2003;55(10):1369-1377. ↗
- Granata R, Leone S, Zhang X, Gesmundo I, Steenblock C, Cai R, Sha W, Ghigo E, Hare JM, Bornstein SR, Schally AV. Growth hormone-releasing hormone and its analogues in health and disease. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2025;21(3):180-195. ↗
- Uçaktürk E, Nemutlu E. Analysis of growth hormone releasing hormone and its analogs in urine using nano liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole/orbitrap mass spectrometry. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2026;243:117207. ↗
- Thomas A, Walpurgis K, Thevis M. Chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of peptidic analytes (2-10 kDa) in doping control urine samples. J Mass Spectrom. 2024;59(2):e4996. ↗
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Bulk Drug Substances Used in Compounding Under Section 503A of the FD&C Act. FDA.gov; 2025. ↗
- Munafo A, Nguyen TX, Papasouliotis O, et al. Polyethylene glycol-conjugated growth hormone-releasing hormone is long acting and stimulates GH in healthy young and elderly subjects. European journal of endocrinology. 2005;153:249-56. ↗
- Chen RG, Shen YN, Yei J, et al. A comparative study of growth hormone (GH) and GH-releasing hormone(1-29)-NH2 for stimulation of growth in children with GH deficiency. Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement. 1993;388:32-5; discussion 36. ↗
- Khorram O, Laughlin GA, Yen SS. Endocrine and metabolic effects of long-term administration of [Nle27]growth hormone-releasing hormone-(1-29)-NH2 in age-advanced men and women. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism. 1997;82:1472-9. ↗
- Lanes R, Carrillo E. Long-term therapy with a single daily subcutaneous dose of growth hormone releasing hormone (1-29) in prepubertal growth hormone deficient children. Venezuelan Collaborative Study Group. The Journal of pediatric endocrinology. 1994;7:303-8. ↗
- Gelander L, Lindstedt G, Selstam G, et al. Effects of acute intravenous injection of two growth hormone-releasing hormones (GHRH 1-40 and 1-29) on serum growth hormone and other pituitary hormones in short children with pulsatile growth hormone secretion. Hormone research. 1989;31:213-20. ↗
- Tauber MT, Pienkowski C, Pigeon P, et al. Growth hormone (GH) profiles in response to continuous subcutaneous infusion of GH-releasing hormone(1-29)-NH2 in children with GH deficiency. Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement. 1993;388:28-30; discussion 31. ↗
- Coutinho LFD, DE Oliveira Neves LF, Camilo RP. A new era of doping? Use of peptide and peptide-analog drugs in recreational and professional sport and bodybuilding: a critical review. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. 2026. ↗
- Mendias CL, Awan TM. Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.). 2026. ↗
- Villegas Meza AD, et al. Injectable Peptides in Sports Medicine: A Structured Narrative Review of Evidence, Safety, and Antidoping Implications. JBJS reviews. 2026;14. ↗
- Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs. 1999;12(2):139-157. ↗
- Ko FY, Chen WP, Lin CY. Defective response of plasma growth hormone to growth hormone releasing factor in growth hormone deficient children. Zhonghua Min Guo Xiao Er Ke Yi Xue Hui Za Zhi. 1992;33:243-50. ↗
- Tuilpakov AN, et al. Growth hormone (GH)-releasing effects of synthetic peptide GH-releasing peptide-2 and GH-releasing hormone (1-29NH2) in children with GH insufficiency and idiopathic short stature. Metabolism. 1995;44:1199-204. ↗
- Yuen KC, Biller BM, Molitch ME, Cook DM. Clinical review: Is lack of recombinant growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone in the United States a setback or time to consider glucagon testing for adult GH deficiency? J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009;94(8):2702-2707. ↗
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Interim Policy on Compounding Using Bulk Drug Substances Under Section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Guidance for Industry). FDA Guidance for Industry. 2025. ↗