Weight and metabolism
Tesamorelin + Ipamorelin
Also written Tesamorelin and Ipamorelin, tesamorelin ipamorelin blend, Tesa + Ipa
Tesamorelin and Ipamorelin are paired in one vial, usually 5 mg each. Tesamorelin is an approved medicine, sold as Egrifta, for reducing deep abdominal fat. Ipamorelin is added because it triggers growth-hormone release through a different switch. People use the pair for visceral fat and recovery.
This pairing is unusual on this site because half of it is a real, approved medicine. Tesamorelin is licensed as Egrifta to reduce visceral fat, the deep abdominal fat that sits around the organs rather than under the skin, and it has proper trials behind it for that use. Ipamorelin is not approved and is added for the same reason it is added to CJC-1295: it presses a second, different switch on the pituitary. People reach for the combination when abdominal fat is the target rather than general recomposition.
What is in it
Tesamorelin
The visceral-fat GHRH
The approved half. Licensed as Egrifta for reducing deep abdominal fat, with human trials behind that specific use. It works by copying the signal that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone.
Everything on Tesamorelin
Ipamorelin
The selective GH releaser
The unapproved half, added to press a second switch on the same gland. It is the selective one in its family, largely leaving cortisol and prolactin alone.
- Dose reported in research
- 200–300 mcg 1–3x/day
Why people pair them
The same mechanism argument as CJC-1295 with Ipamorelin, and it holds up for the same reason: two different receptors on one gland produce more together than either does alone. What changes here is the first half. Tesamorelin was developed, trialled and approved specifically for visceral fat, so the pairing is aimed at the belly rather than at general growth-hormone support. That focus is the point of choosing it over the CJC-1295 version.
Straight answer
Half of this is a licensed medicine. The pairing is not.
Tesamorelin has been through trials and approval for reducing visceral fat, which puts it in a different category from almost everything else on this site. That does not extend to the combination: no trial has tested it alongside Ipamorelin, and the blended vials sold by suppliers are not the approved product. It is also worth knowing the approved indication is narrow, and the ratios in blends vary more than in other stacks, with 5/5, 6/2, 8/2, 12/2 and 13/3 all sold.
What people are usually trying to fix
Each of these has its own guide covering every peptide studied for it, not just these two.
The evidence behind Tesamorelin + Ipamorelin
The strongest evidence of any stack on this hub, and it belongs entirely to one half. Tesamorelin was trialled and approved for visceral fat; Ipamorelin is unapproved, and the pairing has never been tested. Blended vials are not the licensed product.
Studied in people
1 of 1The only kind that directly answers whether it works in humans.Studied in animals
1 of 1Results in animals do not automatically hold in people.Questions people ask
Why combine Tesamorelin with Ipamorelin?
They trigger growth-hormone release through two different receptors, so together they produce more than either alone. Tesamorelin brings the visceral-fat evidence, since that is what it was developed and approved for, and Ipamorelin adds a second release without the cortisol rise that older peptides in its family cause.
Is Tesamorelin FDA-approved?
Yes, on its own, marketed as Egrifta, for reducing excess deep abdominal fat in a specific patient group. That is rare for anything on this site. It does not make the blend approved: combined vials are compounded or sold as research material, not the licensed product, and Ipamorelin is not approved at all.
How does this differ from CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin?
The mechanism logic is identical, only the first half changes. CJC-1295 is aimed at general growth-hormone support and is not approved for anything. Tesamorelin is aimed specifically at deep abdominal fat and is approved for it. If belly fat is the target, that is the reason people pick this pairing.
What ratio comes in the vial?
5 mg of each in a 10 mg vial is the most common, but this pairing varies more than others: 6/2, 8/2, 12/2 and 13/3 are all sold. Check what is in yours before working out a dose, since the ratios are not interchangeable.
Is visceral fat the same as belly fat?
Not quite, and the difference matters here. Visceral fat is the deep fat packed around your organs; subcutaneous fat is the layer you can pinch. Tesamorelin's evidence is specifically about the deep kind, which is also the kind more closely linked to metabolic problems.
Which of these suits you is a different question
A stack is a guess made on your behalf by someone who has never met you. The parts of it that are actually individual, how you process a compound and which of these your genes have anything to say about, are readable, and they do not change over your lifetime.
Upload data you already have from 23andMe or AncestryDNA and we score 39 peptides against your own variants, including which ones your results give no reason to bother with.