Key Takeaways
- Sermorelin is a synthetic analog of growth hormone-releasing hormone, the signal that tells your pituitary gland to release your own growth hormone.
- In a small study, older men's growth hormone and IGF-1 levels rose after 14 days of GHRH injections at the higher dose tested.
- A licensed provider reviews your history, sets your dose and schedule, and refines them over time.
- A licensed pharmacy prepares your sermorelin for you, to the prescription your provider writes.
Growth hormone and deep sleep both change as the years go by. In a study of healthy men, growth hormone secretion dropped roughly 75% between young adulthood (ages 16 to 25) and midlife (ages 36 to 50). Deep, slow-wave sleep fell from nearly 20% of the night before age 25 to under 5% after 35. Sermorelin's role is on the growth hormone side: it signals your body to release its own.
How Does Sermorelin Work With Your Body?
It sends your pituitary the same signal your body uses to call for growth hormone. Sermorelin is a shorter version of that signal, growth hormone-releasing hormone. Its full name is growth hormone releasing factor 1-29 NH2-acetate, and it binds the same receptors.
That signal travels from your hypothalamus to your pituitary gland, where it prompts cells to make growth hormone and release it in pulses. That's how the approved labeling of tesamorelin, another analog of this signal, describes the system sermorelin works on.
Your body stays in charge of the release. Somatostatin, the body's own brake, keeps regulating it, and release from the pituitary still comes in pulses, not constantly (Walker, Clinical Interventions in Aging, 2006).
- Layout: a single left-to-right signaling path on one horizontal axis, three labeled stages, with a return arrow beneath
- Stage 1, "Hypothalamus": label "releases GHRH, the signal". Beneath it, a small tag reading "sermorelin acts HERE" with a rule pointing to this stage and no other
- Stage 2, "Pituitary somatotrophs": label "synthesize and release growth hormone, in pulses"
- Stage 3, "Growth hormone in circulation": label "your own, released by your own gland"
- The return arrow, drawn beneath stages 3 back to 1, labeled "somatostatin, the body's own brake, stays in the circuit"
- A second, visually SUBORDINATE element: a short dashed arrow entering at stage 3 only, labeled "injected growth hormone would enter here instead". It must be drawn dashed and in the neutral gray, never at the weight of the main path, because it is the contrast rather than the subject
- Caption underneath: "A signal, not a supply. The gland still has to answer it."
- Critical: nothing in this diagram may indicate an amount, a duration, a rate or an outcome. There are no figures anywhere in it, and no depiction of a body part, tissue or organ beyond the two labeled boxes
- Do not include: packaging, branding, molecular structures, anatomy illustration, or any before-and-after device
Is Sermorelin the Same as Growth Hormone?
No. They work at different points in the same system.
Growth hormone: the hormone itself, supplied from outside the body. It raises levels directly, because you're adding the hormone.
Sermorelin: the upstream signal. It acts on the pituitary, the gland that releases your own growth hormone, and leaves your body's natural feedback in place.
Growth hormone adds the hormone directly, while sermorelin asks your body to release its own. It's the difference between pouring water into a tank and asking the pump to run. If you're weighing similar peptides, our comparison with tesamorelin and ipamorelin walks through how the three differ.
What Studies of Sermorelin Have Found
In a small study, older men's growth hormone and IGF-1 levels rose after 14 days of GHRH injections at the higher dose tested. IGF-1 is also the blood marker your provider checks as your plan goes on.
In a six-month study, older adults did better on tests of thinking and attention after sermorelin injections. Those were group results, so your provider will talk with you about your own goals and how you'll review your progress together.
What Does Compounded Mean for Your Prescription?
It means your sermorelin is prepared for you. Once a clinician has evaluated whether it's right for you, a licensed pharmacy makes it from the prescription your provider writes. LIV doesn't compound it. Licensed pharmacy partners do.
How Your Provider Sets Your Dose
Your provider chooses your dose within a starting dose and a maximum set by LIV's prescribing protocol. If you tolerate the starting dose, your provider may increase it, staying within that limit. Past the maximum, more does nothing, because your body can't use it.
Check with your provider before changing your dose.
Once you've been prescribed a dose, our schedule and supply calculator can help you turn it into units on a syringe.
How You and Your Provider Track Your Progress
Under LIV's protocol, you'll have your first IGF-1 blood test at 2 to 6 weeks, and your provider looks at the result alongside your sleep data and how you feel.
Before each refill, you tell us how you're doing, and your provider reviews your progress and adjusts your plan as needed. You'll also have a check-in every three months.
Side Effects and What to Tell Your Provider
Your provider reviews your health history and the medicines you take before prescribing. As with any injection, you may notice a reaction where you inject.
Follow the instructions that come with your shipment, since they cover the preparation you receive. Tell your provider about anything new or anything that bothers you, and ask before changing your dose or schedule.
Who Decides Whether Sermorelin Is Right for You?
A licensed provider. Sermorelin is prescription-only, so your provider makes that call at your clinician evaluation. Our results-timeline guide covers what a before-and-after can and can't tell you.
When you're ready, start with an evaluation, and a licensed provider will go over your history and goals with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is sermorelin a form of growth hormone?
No. Growth hormone is the hormone itself, supplied from outside the body. Sermorelin is an analog of the signal that asks your pituitary to release its own. It relies on your own pituitary to release the hormone.
What are the benefits of sermorelin?
Sermorelin acts on your pituitary gland to support your body's own growth hormone release. In research, older men's growth hormone and IGF-1 levels rose after 14 days of GHRH injections, and older adults did better on tests of thinking and attention after six months of sermorelin injections.
The first study, Corpas et al., 1992, gave ten healthy older men (average age 68) GHRH-(1-29) injections twice daily for 14 days at each of two doses. The higher dose was 1 mg twice daily, and growth hormone and IGF-1 rose significantly only at that dose. These are hormone measurements, not a promise that symptoms improve in two weeks, and the study regimen isn't dosing advice.
That study didn't test women or LIV's compounded preparation, and equivalent results aren't established for that preparation. It showed no sleep, energy, muscle or weight-loss outcome.
In the second study, Vitiello et al., 2006, 100 adults ages 60 to 85 entered a randomized, placebo-controlled trial and 89 completed it. They received six months of injected sermorelin acetate (GEREF), starting at 1 mg nightly, with dose adjustment in some participants. Improvements appeared on several cognitive tests and didn't depend on gender or estrogen status.
That isn't evidence of dementia prevention, longer life or a percentage improvement in everyday memory. Participants were older than the midlife group in the sleep study, and the trial didn't test adults ages 35 to 55.
Where do the growth hormone and sleep figures come from?
From Van Cauter et al., JAMA, 2000: 149 healthy, normal-weight men aged 16 to 83, with data combined from sleep-laboratory studies at four centers between 1985 and 1999. It was observational and included men only. The early-adulthood group was ages 16 to 25 and the midlife group ages 36 to 50.
These findings describe how sleep and growth hormone change with age. The study didn't test sermorelin and doesn't show that sermorelin restores deep sleep, growth hormone levels or any health outcome.
Is sermorelin FDA-approved?
No sermorelin product is FDA-approved and on the market today. Sermorelin was the active ingredient in GEREF, an injection the FDA approved to treat children with short stature linked to low growth hormone. Its sponsor discontinued it in December 2008.
FDA later determined that GEREF wasn't withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness (Federal Register, 78 FR 14104, March 4, 2013).
What does compounded mean for my sermorelin?
Compounded means a licensed pharmacy mixes the medicine for one person, to their prescription. It isn't made in large batches. The FDA doesn't approve compounded medicines for safety, quality or how they're made.
There's no approved label for compounded sermorelin, so there's no approved dose to copy. Follow your prescription and the instructions that come with your shipment.
How is my sermorelin dose set?
Your provider sets it. LIV's prescribing protocol sets a moderate starting dose and a maximum. Your provider may increase the dose if you tolerate it, while staying within that limit, because past the maximum the body can't use the extra. Don't increase your dose on your own.
How would I know whether it is working?
Your provider checks. LIV's protocol calls for an IGF-1 blood test at 2 to 6 weeks, and your provider reviews it with your sleep data and how you feel. Along with your lab results, tell your provider how you feel.
How much your level can rise depends on your pituitary. A change in IGF-1 doesn't necessarily mean you'll notice a benefit, particularly if your level was already adequate. Your provider considers both your results and your experience when discussing whether to continue. Our before-and-after guide sets out the schedule and what each check point is for.
Does LIV build a planned break into sermorelin?
Yes. LIV's protocol includes a planned pause, also called a washout, intended to limit tolerance. Your provider explains when to pause and what to do during the break.
References
Corpas, E., Harman, S. M., Piñeyro, M. A., Roberson, R., & Blackman, M. R. (1992). Growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone-(1-29) twice daily reverses the decreased GH and insulin-like growth factor-I levels in old men. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 75(2), 530-535. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1379256/
Federal Register. (2013). Determination that GEREF (sermorelin acetate) injection and GEREF Diagnostic were not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness. 78 FR 14104, March 4, 2013.
Theratechnologies Inc. (2025). EGRIFTA WR (tesamorelin) for injection, for subcutaneous use: Prescribing information. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine. SPL version 2, revised March 2025. Section 12.1, cited for the description of the GHRH system. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=839334d3-8c1d-4c26-9036-2ab524a6ea75
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2024). FDA briefing document, Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting, October 29, 2024: ipamorelin-related bulk drug substances. Cited for the GEREF approval record. https://www.fda.gov/media/182088/download
Van Cauter, E., Leproult, R., & Plat, L. (2000). Age-related changes in slow wave sleep and REM sleep and relationship with growth hormone and cortisol levels in healthy men. JAMA, 284(7), 861-868. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192981
Vitiello, M. V., Moe, K. E., Merriam, G. R., Mazzoni, G., Buchner, D. H., & Schwartz, R. S. (2006). Growth hormone releasing hormone improves the cognition of healthy older adults. Neurobiology of Aging, 27(2), 318-323. https://faculty.washington.edu/vitiello/Recent%20Publications/GHRH%20and%20Cognition%20in%20Aging.pdf
Walker, R. F. (2006). Sermorelin: A better approach to management of adult-onset growth hormone insufficiency? Clinical Interventions in Aging, 1(4), 307-308. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2699646/
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