DOSES STUDIED IN THE LITERATURE
Sermorelin dosage as it appears in the research record
What was administered, to which population, by which route — reported as study parameters, never as a protocol to follow.
Read this first
This page describes sermorelin dosage exactly as it appears in published studies — the amounts researchers gave, to whom, and how. It is not a how-to. Sermorelin here is research-grade material for laboratory work, not a medicine to self-administer, so there are no human dosing instructions on this page — only the study record. Where a number appears, it is paired with the population it was tested in (children, older men, healthy volunteers) and the study that measured it. Doses are written as "studied at X in [population]," never as a recommendation.
Doses studied in the sermorelin research literature
The dose record spans three distinct research contexts, each with its own amount and route.
Pediatric growth-deficiency efficacy. The multicenter pediatric trial used 30 mcg/kg/day subcutaneous at bedtime, which accelerated first-year height velocity from ~4.1 to ~7-8 cm/year [2]. Bedtime timing aligned dosing with the body's nocturnal GH pulse.
Aging research in older men. The aging study used 0.5 mg and 1 mg subcutaneous twice daily for 14 days; the high dose reversed age-related GH and IGF-1 declines, with no fasting-glucose change [3].
Pharmacokinetic and diagnostic work. In healthy men, intravenous GHRH(1-29) at 0.25-2 mcg/kg released growth hormone, with maximal release around 1-2 mcg/kg [13]; a single intravenous bolus (commonly ~1 mcg/kg) was historically used diagnostically to test pituitary GH reserve.
These figures describe what was administered in controlled studies. They are not converted into, and should not be read as, a personal dose.
Routes studied
Subcutaneous injection was the primary research route. Intravenous dosing was used for pharmacokinetic and diagnostic studies. An intranasal route was tested historically but achieved only ~3-5% bioavailability [13] — one reason non-injected formulations are viewed skeptically.
Half-life of sermorelin
The sermorelin half-life is brief: roughly ~10-12 minutes in plasma after intravenous administration. GHRH(1-29) is eliminated rapidly, yet a single dose still elevates serum growth hormone for about 3 hours — the downstream GH effect outlasts the peptide's own presence in the blood [13].
That short window is the pharmacologic reason longer-acting analogs were engineered. Stabilizing modifications such as a D-Ala2 substitution and the albumin-binding DAC technology behind CJC-1295 extend the action of a peptide that would otherwise clear in minutes [13], and PEGylation is a further documented half-life-extension strategy for GRF analogs [5]. The contrast is covered in full on sermorelin vs CJC-1295.
Formulation and stability in the research context
Sermorelin acetate is supplied as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder and reconstituted with sterile diluent before use; once reconstituted, it is typically refrigerated. The lyophilized form exists because aqueous peptide solutions degrade — the same fragility that makes a stable salt and cold storage necessary [5]. In the compounding setting, preparations are made under USP sterile-compounding standards.
Is 3 months of sermorelin enough?
Study durations vary by endpoint: acute GH release appears within hours [3], GH/IGF-1 shifts were measured over 14 days [3], and the pediatric growth endpoint spanned the first year of therapy [2]. The corpus does not define an adult "course length"; the durations described are study timeframes, not protocols to follow.