# GHRP-2

Japan-approved GH diagnostic sold as a vial; hunger, cortisol and prolactin spikes, GH axis.

- Page: https://peprank.xyz/peptides/ghrp-2
- Category: Hormones & libido (Research peptide)
- Also known as: pralmorelin; KP-102; GHRP Kaken 100 (Japanese diagnostic); GPA-748
- Routes: Injection / Nasal / IV
- Safety tier: Strict: Avoid · Balanced: Caution · Evidence only: Caution
- Risk axes (0 none to 3 severe): Seen harm 1, Mechanism 2, Data gap 1, Silent harm 3, Product 3
- Positive: 39% of 7 graded reports glowing or positive, shrunk toward the 49% all-report average by 8 reports' weight
- Rank: #56 of 61 research peptides
- Graded reports: 7 (Positive 2, Mixed 2, Nothing 1, Negative 2)
- Evidence: Approved drug — in Japan (2004) only as a single 100 mcg IV test for GH deficiency; no trial shows benefit from repeated dosing, and a 48-week placebo-controlled pediatric trial found no growth effect
- Access: Grey market
- Onset: GH peaks within 60 minutes of an IV dose; users feel hunger within 10-30 minutes of a subq shot.
- Lasts: A GH pulse of 1-3 hours per dose, which is why users inject 2-3 times a day.
- Cost per month: ≈ €18–45 (researchers' estimate)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

**Why Avoid under the strict bar:** GH/IGF-1 axis elevation with cortisol and prolactin spikes; FDA notes raised insulin needs and deaths in critically ill subjects.

## What users report

Seven first-hand reports, too few to judge. The consistent effect is a strong hunger spike within minutes, sometimes with weakness, tiredness or nausea for up to an hour, and one user had to eat constantly to keep blood sugar up. Sleep is 'amazing' for one user and unchanged for another. Two users rate it positively (muscle kept on a cut, appetite easier to manage than GHRP-6); one switched to CJC-1295/ipamorelin and preferred it. Most discussion threads push people toward ipamorelin or plain GH instead, citing GHRP-2's cortisol and prolactin effect. Felt nothing: 1 of 7 reports felt nothing; too few reports to put a rate on it..

**Effects:** acute GH pulse (peaks within 60 minutes); hunger within minutes; better sleep for some; faster gastric emptying

**Downsides:** intense hunger, shakiness if a meal is skipped; weakness, tiredness or nausea for up to an hour after injection; water retention and bloating; two to four injections a day timed around meals

**Risks:** GH/IGF-1 axis elevation (glucose, theoretical neoplasm promotion); Acute ACTH/cortisol and prolactin rises, comparable to a CRH challenge for cortisol (Arvat 1997); FDA category 2 (2023): reports of increased insulin requirement, pancreatitis, infection and deaths of critically ill study subjects, causality not established; Grey-market vials: aggregation and peptide-impurity immunogenicity concerns (FDA); GHRP-2 also turns up undeclared in other grey-market products

**Caveat:** Japan's approval covers one IV dose under supervision, not daily injections. The repeated-dose trials are in children and ran intranasally; no adult chronic-use safety data exist. One user got nausea rather than hunger, and a commenter suggested the vial might hold something else.

**Typical use:** Users: 100-300 mcg subq 1-3x/day, fasted, 20-30 minutes before eating, often with mod-GRF. Diagnostic label: 100 mcg IV once (2 mcg/kg in children).

**Getting it:** Prescription diagnostic only in Japan (single IV vial). Elsewhere sold as research-peptide vials and in blends such as 'Triple G' (GHRP-2, GHRP-6, sermorelin). FDA put it in compounding category 2 in 2023; WADA-prohibited.

**Stacked with:** CJC-1295 / mod-GRF(1-29) (The classic pairing: a GHRH analogue amplifies the GHRP pulse, injected together 2-3 times a day before meals.); Retatrutide or other GLP-1 agonists (Some users add a GHRP to blunt GLP-1 appetite suppression and speed gastric emptying.); Ipamorelin (Often recommended in its place: same receptor, little cortisol or prolactin effect.)

## Risk profile

- **Seen harm 1/3:** FDA's 2023 category 2 note cites reports of increased insulin requirement, infection, pancreatitis and deaths of critically ill study subjects who received GHRP-2, but says causality has not been established, and the deaths were in intensive-care patients with many competing causes. There are no published case reports in healthy users and no label warning for the Japanese diagnostic beyond pregnancy. Reddit adds low-blood-sugar symptoms and nausea, none documented as an emergency.
- **Mechanism 2/3:** Hormone-axis activation: each dose releases a large GH pulse, taken in the hope of raising IGF-1 (48 weeks of intranasal dosing in children did not), and it is not GH-specific, raising prolactin, ACTH and cortisol, the cortisol response matching a CRH challenge. FDA notes rising insulin requirements. Circulating IGF-1 is associated with several cancers, but there is no in-vivo demonstration that GHRP-2 at use doses causes serious harm, so this stays at 2.
- **Data gap 1/3:** Approved by Japan's PMDA since 2004, but only as a single supervised 100 mcg IV test dose, so the approval does not cover what users do. Repeated-dose controlled data come from a 48-week placebo-controlled pediatric trial of intranasal GHRP-2 (126 children, 82 on drug) plus diagnostic studies of a few hundred people; there are no adult trials of daily subq use.
- **Silent harm 3/3:** The feared harms are IGF-1-driven tumour promotion, which is silent and delayed and counts as 3 under the rubric even though theoretical, and worsening glucose control, which would show on a blood test (a 2). Hunger, nausea and flushing are immediate but not the concern.
- **Product 3/3:** Users buy grey-market lyophilised vials and blends ('Triple G') and inject them subcutaneously 2-3 times a day. FDA flags aggregation and peptide-impurity immunogenicity for compounded injectable and nasal GHRP-2, and the molecule also turns up undeclared in other grey-market products.
- **Never if:** Pregnancy or possible pregnancy (contraindicated on the Japanese label) and breastfeeding; Active or past cancer; Diabetes, prediabetes or insulin use; Pituitary tumours, including prolactinoma; Cushing's syndrome or other cortisol excess; Critical illness; Children and teenagers (no benefit on growth in a 48-week trial)

## Top reports

- Positive, recovery, 100 mcg with 100 mcg mod-GRF 3x/day: “The following definitely helped conserved mass on a cut:” — [r/bodybuilding](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodybuilding/comments/19k7eu/ghrp6_i_was_offered_some_at_my_gym_what_do_i_do/c8oyb36/)
- Positive, metabolic: “I prefer 2 over 6. Easier to manage quality gains that way instead of eating everything in site” — [r/BodyHackGuide](https://www.reddit.com/r/BodyHackGuide/comments/1r7tx5s/recommend_me_a_pep_stack_appetite_increasemuscle/o66qmfa/)
- Mixed, immune, 300 mcg, then 150 mcg: “Shortly after injection, I usually feel very hungry, especially the first few times. Also weak and tired. These effects wore off every time after around 45 minutes.” — [r/rheumatoid](https://www.reddit.com/r/rheumatoid/comments/1dtqhtl/i_fell_in_a_rabbit_hole_and_might_have_found/lgh6za8/)
- Mixed, sleep: “I’ve personally took it hunger is crazy, like if you don’t eat you feel like shit. But the sleep is amazing” — [r/BodyHackGuide](https://www.reddit.com/r/BodyHackGuide/comments/1vrshmv/ghrp2/p5y1fbb/)
- Nothing, sleep: “GHRP-2 has no noticeable effect on my sleep, ipa helps, GHRP-6 makes me drowsy for about half an hour, and then I'm wide awake.” — [r/bodybuilding](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodybuilding/comments/19k7eu/ghrp6_i_was_offered_some_at_my_gym_what_do_i_do/c8oykmw/)

## Studies

- [Chihara et al. 2007: a simple diagnostic test using GHRP-2 in adult GH deficiency](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17609397/) (controlled, n=135, 2007): One 100 mcg IV dose raised GH to a mean peak of 84.6 mcg/L in 77 healthy adults versus 1.4 in 58 GH-deficient patients, peaking within 60 minutes; the basis of the Japanese diagnostic approval.
- [Tanaka et al. 2014: intranasal GHRP-2 spray does not promote growth in short children with GH deficiency](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25374440/) (rct, n=126, 2014): 48 weeks of twice-daily intranasal GHRP-2 (50-200 mcg) gave no height gain over placebo and no change in IGF-1; transient GH pulses were too small to matter.
- [Pihoker et al. 1997: treatment effects of intranasal GHRP-2 in children with short stature](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9390009/) (open-label, n=15, 1997): Uncontrolled: height velocity rose from 3.7 to 6.1 cm/year over 6 months, with no change in IGF-1 or IGFBP-3.
- [Arvat et al. 1997: effects of GHRP-2 and hexarelin on GH, prolactin, ACTH and cortisol in man](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9285939/) (controlled, n=12, 1997): GHRP-2 released more GH than GHRH but was not specific: it raised prolactin, ACTH and cortisol, the cortisol rise matching a CRH challenge.
- [Gondo et al. 2001: GHRP-2 stimulates GH secretion in patients with a mutated GHRH receptor](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11443201/) (controlled, n=19, 2001): GH rose 79-fold in controls but only 4.5-fold without a working GHRH receptor; ACTH, cortisol and prolactin rose similarly in both groups.

## Sources

- [PMDA re-examination report: GHRP Kaken 100 (pralmorelin), approved 22 Oct 2004 for diagnosing GH deficiency](https://www.pmda.go.jp/drugs_reexam/2014/P201400051/20002200_21600AMZ00573_A100_1.pdf)
- [Japanese package insert: GHRP Kaken 100 injection (contraindicated in pregnancy)](https://pins.japic.or.jp/pdf/newPINS/00071737.pdf)
- [FDA category 2 bulk substances: GHRP-2 (injectable and nasal), added 29 Sep 2023](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/certain-bulk-drug-substances-use-compounding-may-present-significant-safety-risks)
- [WADA 2026 Prohibited List, S2.2.4 (GHRP-2/pralmorelin)](https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/2026list_en_final_clean_september_2025.pdf)
- [Reichel et al. 2019: black-market 'follistatin 344' vials contained GHRP-2 and MGF instead](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31758732/)
- [Renehan et al. 2004: circulating IGF-I and cancer risk, systematic review and meta-regression](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15110491/)