SERENITY Blend (DSIP / Selank / CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin): What It Is, Where to Get It Prescribed, and What It Costs

SERENITY is not a single molecule. It is four independently studied peptides — DSIP, Selank, CJC-1295 and ipamorelin — dissolved together in one sterile multi-dose vial by a compounding pharmacy. The name is a brand name for the combination; it does not appear in any journal. So "does SERENITY work" has to be broken into four questions, because the combination itself has never been studied as a combination.

The rationale prescribers give is that a bad night has more than one cause. DSIP is described around the shape of sleep itself and the stress axis. Selank is described around the daytime anxiety that follows people to bed. CJC-1295 and ipamorelin are growth hormone secretagogues, and the body's largest growth hormone pulse of the day happens during slow-wave sleep, so the pair is timed to line up with it. Bedtime is the one time of day at which all four rationales point the same way.

The proportions are worth noticing. Ipamorelin is 12 of the 28 mg in the vial and CJC-1295 another 6, so by mass SERENITY is mostly a secretagogue preparation with two smaller neuropeptide components. The ratio is fixed by the formulation and cannot be adjusted per component, which is the genuine trade-off of any blend.

It is not a sedative: none of the four is described as a hypnotic, and the human DSIP studies reported no sedation. It is not a benzodiazepine, even though Selank is often compared with one. It is not growth hormone, and not a treatment for growth hormone deficiency, which has its own testing and an FDA-approved therapy. And it is not a proven treatment for insomnia.

DSIP was isolated and synthesised by Marcel Monnier's group in Basel; their 1977 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the synthetic peptide, infused into rabbit brains, increased delta-wave and spindle activity, the EEG hallmarks of deep non-REM sleep. A 1985 paper in Neuroendocrinology reported that intravenous DSIP reduced corticosterone release triggered by corticotropin-releasing factor in rats, which is where the "stress response" language comes from. The mechanism remains open: a 2006 review in the Journal of Neurochemistry noted that no DSIP receptor and no gene encoding it had been found. A fuller treatment is on the DSIP page.

Selank is tuftsin, a natural four-amino-acid immune-signalling fragment, with a three-amino-acid tail added to slow breakdown. It was developed in Russia, where it is registered as an intranasal prescription anxiolytic, and nearly all of the research comes from the originating groups. A 2018 paper in Protein and Peptide Letters described it, in rat brain-cell membranes, as a positive allosteric modulator of the GABA-A receptor. A 2001 paper in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine reported that it inhibited the enzymes that degrade leu-enkephalin in human plasma. A fuller treatment is on the Selank page.

CJC-1295 is a modified version of growth-hormone-releasing hormone, the signal that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone. The version in compounded blends is generally the form without the albumin-binding "drug affinity complex," lasting roughly half an hour rather than a week, which is why it is dosed daily and paired with ipamorelin for one pulse. What is known in humans comes from the long-acting DAC form: a 2006 trial in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reported dose-dependent increases in growth hormone and IGF-1 in healthy adults, with the pituitary's pulsatile pattern preserved.

Ipamorelin binds the receptor ghrelin uses, triggering growth hormone release and reducing somatostatin, the brake signal. The 1998 paper in the European Journal of Endocrinology that characterised it titled it "the first selective growth hormone secretagogue," because in animal models it released growth hormone without raising ACTH, cortisol or prolactin. A 1999 study in Pharmaceutical Research reported dose-dependent release in human volunteers. The two secretagogues act through different receptors on the same cell, which is why they are paired; the CJC-1295 / Ipamorelin page covers the pair.

The map below is the clinical rationale for the blend — a rationale, not a finding, because no study has measured what the four do together.

Unusually for a compounded peptide, there are randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in people. They are small, old, intravenous and split. The first appeared in the Lancet in 1981: six chronic insomniacs received an infusion or placebo before bed in a crossover design, and the authors reported longer sleep with fewer interruptions and no daytime sedation; a 1986 paper in European Neurology summarised further work from the same group. Two independent groups did not agree: a 1987 crossover study in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Research found no significant difference from placebo, and a 1992 study in Neuropsychobiology judged the effect weak. Neither found slow-wave sleep itself increased, and none of the work used the subcutaneous route.

Selank has controlled human trials — Russian, small, compared against an active benzodiazepine rather than placebo, and not described as randomised or blinded. A 2008 paper in the Korsakov Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry treated 62 patients with generalised anxiety disorder or neurasthenia with Selank or medazepam and reported a similar anxiolytic effect, with Selank described as mildly activating rather than sedating. A 2014 paper in the same journal compared it with phenazepam in 60 patients and reported an effect persisting about a week after the last dose. All of the trials used the intranasal route, and a 2021 review in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology characterised Selank as poorly studied outside its country of origin.

The 2006 trials of the DAC form of CJC-1295 reported dose-dependent rises in growth hormone and IGF-1 in healthy adults, and the 1999 volunteer study reported the same for intravenous ipamorelin. The sleep rationale is physiological, not trial-based: a 2000 study in JAMA reported that slow-wave sleep and growth hormone secretion decline together in healthy men from early adulthood. No published trial of CJC-1295, ipamorelin or the pair has sleep as an endpoint.

There are no randomised controlled trials of SERENITY, or of any four-peptide combination of these components, in humans. The blend has never been studied as a blend. Evidence is per component, and it is uneven:

• DSIP has small placebo-controlled intravenous studies in chronic insomniacs from 1981 to 1992 with split results, and no trials of the subcutaneous route at all.
• Selank has small Russian comparator trials against benzodiazepines, by the intranasal route, none replicated outside Russia.
• CJC-1295 has 2006 healthy-adult trials of the long-acting DAC form; the daily-dosed form in this blend has not been the subject of a published trial.
• Ipamorelin has a 1999 human pharmacokinetic study and a 2014 randomised, placebo-controlled trial in the International Journal of Colorectal Disease for post-operative ileus, which did not show a significant difference from placebo. Neither measured sleep.

The accurate framing is "components described in preclinical research and small older human studies, and used clinically," not "proven for sleep."

• That four peptides together do more than any one alone. No study has compared the blend with its components.
• That the blend, or any component given subcutaneously at bedtime, changes sleep quality, depth or duration. That trial has not been run.
• An effect size or a timeline in humans. Timelines given by prescribers are clinical experience, not trial endpoints.
• Long-term safety over years of continuous use. The longest human DSIP course on record is fifteen days.
• Efficacy for any condition as an FDA-approved treatment. Neither SERENITY nor any component is approved for anything.

DSIP, which the FDA lists under its international name emideltide, was placed in Category 2 of the 503A bulk drug substances list in 2023 — the category for substances with identified safety concerns — and was among the twelve peptides the FDA removed from it on 15 April 2026, effective 22 April; its listing now records no identified safety-related information for the proposed route.

The FDA evaluated it anyway. On 24 July 2026 the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 6 in favour, 7 against, with 1 abstention, and so did not recommend adding emideltide to the 503A Bulks List. The uses evaluated were opioid withdrawal, chronic insomnia and narcolepsy; it was the only one of the seven peptides considered that week not to receive a favourable vote.

Selank acetate was placed in Category 2 on 29 September 2023 and came off a year later, when the FDA recorded that the nominator had intended to nominate a different substance. The FDA's safety-risks page, current as of 22 April 2026, lists it among substances "nominated but withdrawn," the 503A category list updated 14 May 2026 does not carry it in any category, and it has not been scheduled for advisory committee review.

CJC-1295 was placed in Category 2 in 2023 and went through the advisory committee in full. On 4 December 2024 the committee voted 0–13 against adding CJC-1295 free base to the 503A Bulks List and 1–12 against the acetate; the three DAC forms were each voted against 0–13. The use evaluated was growth hormone deficiency. In April 2026 the FDA withdrew it from Category 2; it now sits among substances "nominated but withdrawn," and the 14 May 2026 list shows it in no category.

On 29 October 2024 the committee voted 0 yes, 12 no, 1 abstain against adding ipamorelin free base to the 503A Bulks List, and the same against the acetate. The uses evaluated were growth hormone deficiency and post-operative ileus. Its 503A nomination has since been withdrawn, and the 14 May 2026 list does not carry it in any category. One detail is easy to get wrong: the FDA's page notes that ipamorelin acetate "also appears in the table above because it is in category 2 under the 503B interim policy," a listing dated 29 September 2023. Section 503B covers outsourcing facilities compounding without patient-specific prescriptions, a separate pathway from the 503A pharmacy compounding of SERENITY to an individual prescription.

As of September 2026: none of the four components sits in Category 2 of the 503A list. DSIP, CJC-1295 and ipamorelin have each been reviewed by the advisory committee and not recommended for the positive list; those votes are advisory, the FDA has not issued a final determination on any of them, and a "no" vote is not a ban. Selank has never been reviewed. All four remain legal for a physician to prescribe and a state-licensed pharmacy to dispense. None is an FDA-approved drug product, and compounded medications never are. See are peptides FDA approved.

People expecting the heaviness of a sleeping tablet are usually surprised by how little they notice. What some describe early is a brief flush after the injection and vivid dreams. Some notice nothing, which is normal.

Prescribers generally treat the first vial as the assessment window, ideally against a sleep diary. Where people describe change, it is usually in the shape of the night — fewer awakenings, steadier mornings — rather than falling asleep faster. "Nothing changed" is an answer for your physician, not a reason to change the dose yourself. A change in IGF-1, if the secretagogues are doing what they do in the human trials, would show on follow-up bloodwork over the second vial.

No rebound insomnia was reported in the DSIP studies, no dependence signal in the Selank trials, and secretagogues do not suppress the pituitary. Whether any benefit persists depends on whether the thing driving the poor sleep has changed.

The directions are written in millilitres and in insulin-syringe units because that is what you can read off the barrel. 0.25 mL is 25 units on a U-100 syringe; the number is printed on your medication. Because the four are in fixed proportion, every dose delivers the same split: 0.25 mg DSIP, 0.25 mg Selank, 0.3 mg CJC-1295 and 0.6 mg ipamorelin.

Subcutaneous means into the fat layer, not the muscle. Abdomen and thigh are the usual sites, rotated. Bedtime is the point of the schedule: the secretagogue pulse is timed to the body's own slow-wave-sleep pulse, and food blunts a growth hormone pulse, so a large late meal works against it. The weekday-only pattern is a prescribing convention, not a schedule taken from any trial.

20 doses at five nights a week is four weeks, which is why refills run on a 28-day cycle. The weekend gap is part of the schedule. One vial per fill, always — not a stockpile.

Refrigerated, and it ships that way in insulated packaging with ice packs. Beyond-use dating runs from first puncture and is printed on the label. Do not freeze it and do not shake it.

DSIP on its own is the same 5 mg of the sleep peptide on the same bedtime schedule, without Selank or the secretagogues. It is the narrower prescription, with no growth hormone axis to monitor and no anxiolytic component; where the complaint is fragmented sleep and nothing else, a physician may reasonably start there.

The two-peptide blend is the growth hormone version. It carries the same 6 mg of CJC-1295 and 12 mg of ipamorelin per vial as SERENITY, dosed on an empty stomach rather than specifically at bedtime, with no DSIP or Selank. It is also available as a pepti Pen, which SERENITY is not. If the overnight pulse is the goal and sleep is a hoped-for side benefit rather than the complaint, it is the more targeted prescription.

Selank on its own carries 10 mg per vial, twice what SERENITY does, and is taken during the day. Semax + Selank covers stress and focus together. SERENITY exists for people whose stress and sleep are the same problem; if the anxiety is the whole picture, one of those is the more direct conversation.