Hexarelin

Examorelin

Snapshot

Indications	Contraindications
Growth hormone release¹ Growth in short children² IGF-I support² Age-related growth hormone decline^{3, 4} Left ventricular performance⁵	Tested competitive athletes⁶

Hexarelin (examorelin) is a synthetic hexapeptide that stimulates growth hormone release as a growth hormone secretagogue.¹ The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lists it among prohibited growth hormone-releasing peptides, at all times in and out of competition.⁶ Interest centers on raising growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), studied in short prepubertal children and in healthy older adults with age-related decline in growth hormone release. Acute cardiac effects have also been examined in healthy men.⁵

Evidence is short-term and physiologic. Single doses raised growth hormone in a dose-dependent way in healthy men, while chronic injection partly blunted the response and left IGF-I unchanged.¹ In a 2015 study giving each peptide nasally to a single volunteer, hexarelin was extensively metabolized, with a metabolite detectable after the parent compound cleared; the work informs anti-doping detection, not clinical use.⁷ In a 2025 warning letter, a product listed as hexarelin acetate was found misbranded because its listed active ingredient was a different peptide.⁸

Single doses raised cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and prolactin in healthy volunteers, although chronic injection did not show sustained over-stimulation of the pituitary-adrenal axis or prolactin.^{9, 10}

Last updated October 17, 2026. Read how we make monographs.

In the full monograph

35 sources, 28 studies

When to useThe situations practitioners use it for, each with the reason and the study behind it.
SafetyWho should avoid it, who needs extra care, and the side effects reported in studies.
InteractionsThe medicines and supplements it interacts with, the effect of each, and what labeling says to watch.
Protocol notesThe doses used in studies, how and when they were taken, and how the forms on the market compare.
How it worksWhat it is and how it works in the body, in plain terms.
Published studiesThe studies behind each use, popular claims checked against them, and trials still under way.
Word of mouthWhat patients and practitioners report online, kept separate from the clinical evidence.
Clinical perspectiveA closing read of where the evidence is solid, where it is thin, and what has not been studied.

Snapshot

In the full monograph

Sources