Sermorelin + Ipamorelin — the dual-pathway GH stack
A GHRH analog paired with a selective GHRP — two routes to growth-hormone release, so together they give a bigger, cleaner pulse than either alone. Why clinicians pair them, and the catch.
Both halves are available from the same provider
Sermorelin and ipamorelin are among the most common growth-hormone pairings in peptide therapy, and the reason is simple: they push the same outcome through two different doors. Sermorelin is a 29-amino-acid fragment of growth hormone-releasing hormone — it binds the GHRH receptor on your pituitary and asks it to release more of its own GH, in natural pulses. Ipamorelin is a selective ghrelin-receptor agonist, a member of the GHRP family, and it triggers a GH pulse through an entirely separate receptor while also easing off somatostatin, the body’s brake on GH release.
Run one pathway and you get a solid pulse. Run both and the pulse is larger than the sum of the parts — the GHRH-plus-GHRP synergy is one of the better-documented effects in growth-hormone physiology. Crucially, both work with your feedback loops rather than around them: if GH or IGF-1 climb too high, somatostatin still shuts the pulse down — the difference between this approach and injecting recombinant GH directly.
“The point of the stack isn’t more of one thing — it’s a fuller, more natural GH pulse from hitting two receptors your body already uses.”
What that translates into over months — sleep, recovery, body composition — depends heavily on training, protein, and sleep, and the outcome data for this exact combination is thinner than the mechanism. For the full trial history, read the deep-dives on PeptideWellness.
Who it's for (or who should avoid)
What it's aimed at
This stack is most commonly prescribed for:
- Adults with age-related GH decline — low age-adjusted IGF-1 plus symptoms that map to it: poor sleep, stubborn central fat, slow recovery
- Body recomposition — preserving lean mass while trimming fat, especially past 35 when natural GH pulses fall off
- Recovery and sleep quality — deeper sleep architecture and shorter recovery windows between training sessions
- Longevity protocols — restoring GH pulsatility with two complementary mechanisms rather than one
Who should avoid it
- Anyone with active or recent cancer — IGF-1 has proliferative signaling effects, so oncology sign-off is the right step
- People with diabetes or insulin resistance — GH is counter-regulatory to insulin, and long-term glucose effects of secretagogue stacks aren’t well characterized in humans
- Anyone pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning a pregnancy — no controlled human data
- People with untreated hypothyroidism (it blunts the GH response) or pre-existing hepatic or renal disease
- Competitive athletes — both peptides are on the WADA prohibited list
Dose, timing and cycling
Both are subcutaneous injections, typically dosed in the evening — often in the same window before bed — to ride the natural GH pulse during slow-wave sleep. Sermorelin clears fast (half-life under 15 minutes); ipamorelin peaks around 40 minutes and lasts a couple of hours, so the timing lines up well.
What sellers publish (we checked on 16 October 2026):
Rx Peps Direct sells the blend at 0.6 mg sermorelin and 0.72 mg ipamorelin per injection and does not say how often (checked 16 October 2026). No dose is approved
Rx Peps Direct publishes none; for sermorelin alone, Defy Medical’s handout runs 12-week cycles
Defy’s handout ties the cycle to IGF-1 levels; with a stack you are driving GH through two pathways at once
bacteriostatic water; dosing and cycling are set with your prescriber, not self-directed
A note on access: the two peptides are not on equal regulatory footing. Sermorelin is compoundable under 503A with a prescription. Ipamorelin is not: its 503A nomination was withdrawn in 2024, it is not on the 503A bulks list or in category 1, and it remains in category 2 for outsourcing facilities. A pharmacy can lawfully prepare the sermorelin half and not the ipamorelin half, so confirm the current status before planning around the full stack.
No measured timeline
No trial has tested sermorelin and ipamorelin together, so there is no measured timeline to show, and we do not draw one from user reports. Agree with your prescriber what you will measure, including IGF-1, and when you will check it.
Both halves are available from the same provider
A stack is something a clinician decides to run, not a product on a shelf. Some sellers compound pairs like this into one vial, but that vial is still a prescription, written after an intake, not something to add to a basket. So this is the per-half answer — who sells each one today, and what to do about a half nobody sells.
Sermorelin
- Maximus Men's hormone focus
- Mochi Health Compounded marketplace
- TeleZenMD Widest peptide menu
- Defy Medical Tampa clinic, physician-led
- AgelessRx Longevity prescribing, runs its own trials
- Strut Health Compounded multi-category, Dallas
- Invigor Medical Compounded catalogue, Kennewick WA
- MadeMed Compounded, billed every 30, 90 or 360 days
- Lavender Sky Health Twelve named pharmacies, priced per vial
- RxPepsDirect Per-vial prices, 503A pharmacy in Texas
- PeterMD Mens health storefront, Vero Beach FL
- ProvnRx Compounded storefront, launched April 2026
- PeRx Peptide-only telehealth, Wellness MD Group PC
- Nu Image Medical Cash-pay telehealth since 2004, Tampa FL
- BiltRx Performance telehealth, Houston TX (formerly DietDoc)
- New Blue Health Peptide, GLP-1 and hormone telehealth
- Hone Health Membership telehealth for hormones and longevity
- EverlifeMD Sublingual and injectable peptide telehealth
Ipamorelin
- Defy Medical Tampa clinic, physician-led
- RxPepsDirect Per-vial prices, 503A pharmacy in Texas
- Live Vital Physician-led, monthly pricing, Draper UT
- PeRx Peptide-only telehealth, Wellness MD Group PC
Will it work where you live?
Most sellers claim all fifty states or publish nothing about coverage; a few name the states they serve or exclude, and each provider page says which. Either way it is the seller's own claim, so we can't filter a list by state without inventing a fact. What we can tell you is which state-level rules decide access: telehealth rules, non-resident pharmacy licensing, and who is allowed to prescribe.
Find who prescribes this pair
The licensed providers that sell sermorelin or ipamorelin, what each charges to start, and what they publish about your state. No signup.
Questions we get about Sermorelin + Ipamorelin
Is the sermorelin + ipamorelin stack FDA-approved?
No — there is no FDA-approved combination product. Sermorelin was approved in 1997 as Geref (pediatric GH deficiency) and is no longer marketed under that brand, though the FDA determined in 2013 that it was not withdrawn for reasons of safety or effectiveness; ipamorelin has never been approved. Neither has a current label to prescribe off; both are prescribed compounded. Sermorelin is compounded under 503A and is not on the FDA Category 2 list; ipamorelin has no lawful compounding route — see the legality question below.
Is it legal?
Sermorelin, yes — with a prescription it's compounded under 503A rules. Ipamorelin, no, not even with a prescription. Section 503A lets a pharmacy compound only from an ingredient of an FDA-approved drug, a substance with a USP monograph or one on the FDA's 503A bulks list, and the FDA's interim policy adds its category 1 while it decides. Ipamorelin is in none of these: its 503A nomination was withdrawn in 2024, the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee reviewed it that October, and the FDA has not added it to the list. For outsourcing facilities (503B) it is still in category 2, the FDA's safety-risk list. Some telehealth providers sell the pair anyway. Buying either from "research chemical" sources is not legal and the quality is untested. Confirm the current status and your state's coverage with a licensed clinician before counting on the pair.
Are there side effects?
The most common are injection-site reactions, mild water retention, headache, and vivid dreams. Because you're stacking two GH secretagogues, the GH and IGF-1 effect is larger than with one, so IGF-1 monitoring every 6–12 weeks is standard. GH is counter-regulatory to insulin, so anyone with diabetes or insulin resistance needs close monitoring. The pairing doesn't add novel toxicities beyond the two peptides individually.
How much does it cost?
Sermorelin on its own typically runs a few hundred dollars a month as a 503A-compounded peptide, and insurance doesn't cover compounded drugs. A firm price for the full stack is harder to pin down because ipamorelin has no lawful compounding route (see the legality question) — treat any bundled figure as provisional. One published figure: on 14 October 2026 RxPepsDirect listed a combined sermorelin/ipamorelin vial (15mg + 18mg) at $100, plus a $39 visit per order — a quantity, not a month.
We publish no medical reviewer by design. Every claim on this page traces to a source we hold on file, and the reviewed write-up with those citations lives on our hub — one per peptide, because the pair itself has no single write-up.
Read the Sermorelin deep-dive ↗Read the Ipamorelin deep-dive ↗
Other pairings, and the peptides around them
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