GHRP-2

GHRP-2 carries the largest body of current human pharmacology of the three secretagogues here, because Japanese clinical groups use it as a provocative test of pituitary reserve rather than as a medicine. A 2023 study applied the test to 65 people aged 65 and over with non-functioning pituitary neuroendocrine tumours before surgery, using peak growth hormone response to sort them and correlating that against corticotropin-releasing-hormone test results. A 2024 retrospective series of 23 adolescents tested between 2010 and 2023 reported median peak growth hormone of 3.4 ng/mL in organic or genetic deficiency, 88.9 ng/mL in idiopathic deficiency and 90.1 ng/mL in short stature, and concluded the existing cut-off may need revisiting. Anti-doping laboratories have separately published detection methods in athlete urine and in dried blood spots. The endpoint in every one of these studies is a growth hormone concentration or an analyte detection, not a clinical outcome.

What is not established

No therapeutic indication is established anywhere; the human literature is diagnostic and analytical. The FDA records reports of serious adverse events in people who received GHRP-2, including increased insulin requirement, deaths of critically ill study subjects, infection and pancreatitis, with causality not established. Whether it holds a marketing authorisation in Japan as a diagnostic agent could not be verified from a primary regulator.

What distinguishes GHRP-2

GHRP-2 is the only compound in this group with an international nonproprietary name in routine clinical use as a diagnostic rather than as a medicine, and WADA names it by that name, pralmorelin, in the list itself. It is also the only one the FDA has restricted by ROUTE in its compounding listing, which is scoped specifically to injectable and nasal administration. In the comparative swine work it showed higher potency but lower maximum effect than both ipamorelin and GHRP-6.

Sources

1. Teramoto S et al. Assessment of anterior pituitary reserve capacity based on growth hormone response to the GHRP-2 test in the elderly. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2023;71:101545
2. Onuki T et al. Robust growth hormone responses to GH-releasing peptide 2 in adolescents. 2024
3. Detection of GHRP-2 and GHRP-6 in urine samples from athletes. Drug Test Anal. 2015
4. US FDA. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks
5. World Anti-Doping Agency. 2026 Prohibited List, section S2.2.4

This page describes a compound as a material and summarises published research about it. It is for general and procurement information only. It is not medical advice, not a treatment recommendation, and not guidance on use. Supplied for laboratory and research use, not for human consumption.