The reading shelf
Sermorelin hormone, growth and cognition papers
The hormone result, the children’s growth result and the cognition result came from different experiments. Their original names matter.
Older men’s hormone studies and children’s growth trials
Corpas’s older men study is the adult hormonal result at the center of this site. The multicenter pediatric growth trial asks a different question, with a different population and outcome. The pharmacokinetic study explains the peptide’s short time in plasma and the longer growth hormone response.
I’d set those experiments beside the continuous-infusion result in children, where the response faded, before accepting a simple story about restoring a natural signal. For cognition, the controlled tesamorelin trial is the paper to examine, with that drug’s name intact.
Arguments, reviews and a policy
Walker’s physiological argument and Blackman’s aging-treatment caution are editorials. The review of pediatric and diagnostic use and the post-discontinuation diagnostic review help explain the history. FDA’s interim Section 503A guidance addresses compounding policy.
The complete reference list follows. It includes the broader safety, feedback and drug-class literature, so a claim can be checked against the experiment or discussion that actually contains it.
- 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):1189-96. ↗
- 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):677-9. ↗
- 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. (SMART trial, NCT00257712.) ↗
- Veldhuis JD, Bowers CY. Determinants of GH-releasing hormone and GH-releasing peptide synergy in men. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2009;296:E1085-92. ↗
- Veldhuis JD, et al. Age and secretagogue type jointly determine dynamic growth hormone responses to exogenous insulin-like growth factor-negative feedback in healthy men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004;89:5542-8. ↗
- Russell-Aulet M, et al. In vivo semiquantification of hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) output in humans: evidence for relative GHRH deficiency in aging. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1999;84:3490-7. ↗
- Bowers CY, Granda-Ayala R. Growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 response to acute and chronic growth hormone-releasing peptide-2, growth hormone-releasing hormone 1-44NH2 and in combination in older men and women with decreased growth hormone secretion. Endocrine. 2001;14:79-86. ↗
- Ericsson M, Bhuiyan H, Yousif B, et al. The intra-individual stability of GH biomarkers IGF-I and P-III-NP in relation to GHRH administration, menstrual cycle, and hematological parameters. Drug Test Anal. 2020;12:1620-1628. ↗
- Massoud AF, et al. Growth hormone (GH) autofeedback on GH response to GH-releasing hormone. Role of free fatty acids and somatostatin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1991;72(2):492-499. ↗
- Lewinski A, et al. The Complex World of Regulation of Pituitary Growth Hormone Secretion: The Role of Ghrelin, Klotho, and Nesfatins in It. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021;12:636403. ↗
- 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. (Epub 2024 Nov 13.) ↗
- Gahete MD, et al. Central and peripheral regulation of the GH/IGF-1 axis: GHRH and beyond. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2025. (Epub 2024 Nov 22.) ↗
- 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. ↗
- Esposito S, et al. Advances in the detection of growth hormone releasing hormone synthetic analogs. Drug Test Anal. 2021. ↗
- 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. ↗