Sermorelin
Growth Hormone Peptide

Weight Loss

What is Sermorelin?

Sermorelin is a synthetic peptide that stimulates the body to produce more growth hormone, associated with benefits like fat loss, improved body composition, longevity, and more.

How Does Sermorelin Work?

Sermorelin mimics native Growth regulating factors (GRFs) and stimulate Growth Hormone (GH) secretion to the maximum natural level. [4].

Sermorelin's Positive effects on Body Composition

Sermorelin has been identified as one of several growth hormone secretagogues (GHS) that can help manage body composition in hypogonadal males. In a 2020 paper, Deepankar et al. noted that sermorelin can “significantly improve body composition” (in hypogonadal males) while “ameliorating specific hypogonadal symptoms” such as fat gain and muscular atrophy [6].

Sermorelin and Anti-aging Benefits

A 1992 study found that short-term subcutaneous sermorelin injections enabled healthy male subjects to reverse age-related decreases in GH and levels of IGF-I [7].

A 1997 single-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial found that elderly male and female test subjects who received nightly subcutaneous injections of sermorelin for 16 weeks experienced a “significant increase in skin thickness.” The peptide was found to produce significant increases in lean body mass in male test subjects and notable increases in libido and wellbeing. Male test subjects gained an average of 1.26 kg of lean body mass by the end of the trial [8]

anti aging shutterstock 1445471579 scaled 1

Sermorelin and Lipodystrophy

Scientists carried out a controlled clinical study involving 31 HIV-positive subjects with lipodystrophy, to investigate the potential impact of Sermorelin (8). All 31 subjects were divided into two groups, where one was presented with Sermorelin, and the other group with a placebo for 12 weeks. Following the study, it was suggested by the research team that growth hormone levels appeared significantly increased in Sermorelin subjects as compared to the ones given a placebo. Levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) had apparently increased – resulting in increased lean body mass in the peptide subjects. Abdominal visceral fat and ratio of trunk to lower extremity fat was reported by the researchers to be significantly reduced. There was no other reported change in the glucose or insulin levels. (8)

Sermorelin and Cognition

 In the early 2000s, clinical research studies were conducted with 89 older subjects between 68 and 69 years of age, to explore the correlation (if any) between tapering growth hormone release and impaired cognition. Scientists consider that with increasing age, levels of growth hormone naturally decline, which result in reduced physiological functions, including cognition (i.e. ability to collect, process and recollect information). Following the introduction of Sermorelin, it was observed that there was an apparent improved performance in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale (WAIS) – i.e. improved IQ levels, picture arrangement tests and verbal tests – amongst the test subjects. (9)

Sermorelin Side Effects

The most commonly reported adverse events were transient facial flushing and injection site pain.

Sermorelin FAQs

Is Sermorelin Safe?

According to Walker, sermorelin is potentially safer than exogenous rhGH because it does not stimulate IGF-1 and is virtually incapable of causing overdose, given that the peptide merely stimulates endogenous hGH and its effects are regulated by somatostatin [5].

Is Sermorelin Legit?

Yes, it is. Sermorelin was approved for the treatment and diagnosis of GHD deficiency in subjects of all ages by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997, and its approval was discontinued in 2008 for reasons unrelated to safety and effectiveness [1, 2, 3].
Research indicates that sermorelin peptide is an effective growth hormone secretagogue that significantly increases levels of hGH in the body in both children and adults [4, 13].
Sermorelin has also shown promise in other clinical contexts, including muscle wasting in elderly people with GH insufficiency, lipodystrophy in HIV-infected patients, and impaired cognition in elderly subjects [14]. A breakthrough study in 2021 has identified sermorelin as a promising treatment for patients with recurrent glioma, a common type of brain tumor [15].

References

  1. Xu, Z. (2016). Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone. In Handbook of Hormones (pp. 144-e18B). Academic Press.
  2. US Food and Drug Administration, (n.d.). Drugs at FDA: FDA-Approved drugs. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=overview.process&ApplNo=020443
  3. Determination That GEREF (Sermorelin Acetate) Injection, 0.5 Milligrams Base/Vial and 1.0 Milligrams Base/Vial, and GEREF (Sermorelin Acetate) Injection, 0.05 Milligrams Base/Amp, Were Not Withdrawn From Sale for Reasons of Safety or Effectiveness. (2021). Retrieved 3 June 2021, from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/03/04/2013-04827/determination-that-geref-sermorelin-acetate-injection-05-milligrams-basevial-and-10-milligrams
  4. Prakash A, Goa KL. Sermorelin: a review of its use in the diagnosis and treatment of children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. BioDrugs. 1999 Aug;12(2):139-57. doi: 10.2165/00063030-199912020-00007. PMID: 18031173.
  5. Walker RF. Sermorelin: a better approach to management of adult-onset growth hormone insufficiency? Clin Interv Aging. 2006;1(4):307-8. doi: 10.2147/ciia.2006.1.4.307. PMID: 18046908; PMCID: PMC2699646.
  6. Sinha, Deepankar K et al. “Beyond the androgen receptor: the role of growth hormone secretagogues in the modern management of body composition in hypogonadal males.” Translational andrology and urology vol. 9,Suppl 2 (2020): S149-S159. doi:10.21037/tau.2019.11.30
  7. Corpas E, Harman SM, Piñeyro 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 Aug;75(2):530-5. doi: 10.1210/jcem.75.2.1379256. PMID: 1379256.
  8. 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. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997 May;82(5):1472-9. doi: 10.1210/jcem.82.5.3943. PMID: 9141536.
  9. Bagno, L. L., Kanashiro‐Takeuchi, R. M., Suncion, V. Y., Golpanian, S., Karantalis, V., Wolf, A., … & Valdes, D. (2015). Growth hormone–releasing hormone agonists reduce myocardial infarct scar in swine with subacute ischemic cardiomyopathy. Journal of the American Heart Association, 4(4), e001464.
  10. Drugs.com (2015). Sermorelin acetate. https://www.drugs.com/cdi/sermorelin-acetate.html
  11. World Anti-Doping Agency. World Anti-Doping Code International Standard Prohibited List 2022. WADA website. January 1, 2022. Accessed Mar 2022. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2022list_final_en.pdf
  12. Baumann, G. P. (2012). Growth hormone doping in sports: a critical review of use and detection strategies. Endocrine Reviews, 33(2), 155-186.
  13. Laron, Z. (1995). Growth hormone secretagogues. Drugs, 50(4), 595-601.
  14. Ishida, J., Saitoh, M., Ebner, N., Springer, J., Anker, S. D., and von Haehling, S. (2020) Growth hormone secretagogues: history, mechanism of action, and clinical development. JCSM Rapid Communications, 3: 25– 37. https://doi.org/10.1002/rco2.9.
  15. Chang Y, Huang R, Zhai Y, Huang L, Feng Y, Wang D, Chai R, Zhang W, Hu H. A potentially effective drug for patients with recurrent glioma: sermorelin. Ann Transl Med 2021;9(5):406. doi: 10.21037/atm-20-6561.