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Research profile · Peptide

GHRP-2

Also known as Pralmorelin, KP-102

Early human — evidence level 3 of 4: Early human evidenceExperimental — UK regulatory status: Experimental — not authorised for human use in the UK

Overview

A synthetic hexapeptide growth hormone secretagogue, used in some countries as a diagnostic agent for growth hormone deficiency.

Category
Peptide
Highest evidence level identified
Early human evidence
Last scientifically reviewed
20 August 2026
Last regulatory review
20 August 2026

Mechanism under investigation

GHRP-2 is a synthetic hexapeptide that acts as an agonist at the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, the same receptor targeted by endogenous ghrelin. It is proposed to amplify growth hormone pulses through a combination of direct pituitary stimulation and interaction with growth hormone-releasing hormone and somatostatin signalling, though the relative contribution of each pathway is not settled. Receptor selectivity is incomplete: human studies report accompanying rises in prolactin, corticotropin and cortisol.

Research areas

  • Pituitary endocrinology
  • Appetite regulation

These are fields in which the compound has been investigated. Listing a field is not a statement that anything was demonstrated within it.

Current evidence

In-vitro evidence

Cells, tissues or biochemical systems outside a living organism.

Present. Studies in cultured pituitary cells characterise receptor-mediated calcium mobilisation and second-messenger responses, and compare this peptide with GHRP-6 in the same preparations.

Animal evidence

Studies in living non-human animals.

Present and reasonably broad. Rodent work covers anti-inflammatory effects in arthritis models and attenuation of muscle-protein breakdown markers, with corticotropin release in rats appearing to be mediated largely indirectly. Livestock studies exist in several species.

Human observational evidence

Studies observing people without assigning an intervention.

Thin. Chiefly a single-patient case report of long-term use in severe anorexia nervosa, alongside analytical literature detecting the peptide in urine, in seized vials and in a nutritional supplement. There is no cohort study and no pharmacovigilance dataset covering non-medical use.

Clinical-trial evidence

Studies assigning an intervention to human participants.

Present but narrow. A randomised study in 33 men with prolonged critical illness compared the peptide alone against a combination with other releasing hormones, and a crossover study in seven lean men found food intake rose substantially against saline. The compound is validated as a diagnostic stimulation agent for growth hormone deficiency, and holds a Japanese approval for that narrow diagnostic use. ClinicalTrials.gov registers no trials under either name.

Study limitations

  • Human studies are very small — seven participants in the food-intake study, 33 in the critical-illness trial — and are powered for hormonal endpoints rather than clinical outcomes.
  • Almost all human work is acute or short-term. The longest human exposure evidence is a single case report, so durability and cumulative risk are essentially uncharacterised.
  • Human data come overwhelmingly from clinical populations or lean male volunteers and do not transfer readily to healthy adults.
  • There are no registered trials, so no prospectively registered protocols or pre-specified endpoints exist to check reported findings against.
  • The approval that exists elsewhere is for a single diagnostic administration. It says nothing about therapeutic or repeated use, which is what readers usually want to know.

UK regulatory context

Experimental — not authorised for human use in the UK

A compound appearing in research literature that holds no UK authorisation for human use in any indication.

Source: The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 46 — prohibition on sale or supply of an unauthorised medicinal product (opens legislation.gov.uk in a new tab) (legislation.gov.uk)

Regulatory classification is jurisdiction-specific. A compound authorised elsewhere is not thereby authorised in the UK, and a supplier’s description of a substance does not determine how it is classified in law. See safety and regulation for the framework and the authoritative sources.

Safety and interpretation

Reported effects in short-term supervised studies include appetite stimulation and concurrent rises in prolactin, corticotropin and cortisol, reflecting incomplete receptor selectivity. No controlled study has run long enough to characterise sustained endocrine effects. Material supplied outside a regulated chain has been documented in seized vials and in a mislabelled supplement, so identity and content cannot be assumed. Absence of reported harm in small short studies is not evidence of long-term safety.

References