Peptide half-life chart
How long each compound lasts in the body, and where every number comes from.
A half-life is how long it takes for half of a dose to leave the blood. After about five half-lives, roughly 97% of it is gone. Taken on a regular schedule, a drug builds up for about four to five half-lives and then levels off; that’s why a weekly drug like semaglutide takes about a month to reach steady levels, while one that lasts minutes never builds up at all.
Each value below is the same one shown on the compound’s datasheet, with its source. Label values come from prescribing information, Trial from published human studies and Animal from animals only, which don’t carry over reliably to people.
All measured half-lives
32 compounds.
| Compound | Half-life | 1 min1 hour1 day1 weekScale | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIP | about 1 to 2 minutes TrialPlasma, after IV infusion in healthy volunteers. One study also found a slower second phase of about 21 minutes.Domschke et al., Gut 1978, PMID 730072; Holm-Bentzen et al., Scand J Gastroenterol 1981, PMID 16435487 | Mostly gone about 5 to 10 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Oxytocin | about 1 to 6 minutes LabelPlasma half-life; shorter in late pregnancy and during breastfeeding.Pitocin prescribing information, clinical pharmacology (DailyMed, revised March 2026) | Mostly gone about 5 to 30 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Selank | a few minutes LabelRussian label, nasal drops: found in blood within 30 seconds, then levels fall over 5 to 5.5 minutes. No formal half-life is given.Selank 0.15% nasal drops instructions (medi.ru, Peptogen) | Blood levels fall within minutes, so daily doses don’t build up.No formal half-life: the Russian label says blood levels fall within about 5 minutes of a nasal dose. | |
| Kisspeptin-10 | about 4 minutes TrialPlasma half-life after IV dosing: 3.8 minutes in men and 4.1 minutes in women.Jayasena et al., JCEM 2011, PMID 21976724, as cited in the FDA PCAC briefing, Oct 2024 | Mostly gone about 20 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Gonadorelin | about 4 minutes LabelBroken down in plasma and cleared in the urine after injection.UK gonadorelin 100 micrograms summary of product characteristics, section 5.2 (revised 30 August 2022) | Mostly gone about 20 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Sermorelin | about 6 to 7 minutes LabelAfter IV injection, per the former Geref 50 diagnostic label (Ireland). An RxList sermorelin monograph gives 11 to 12 minutes after IV or subcutaneous use.Geref 50 SPC (Serono, HPRA Ireland, 2006) | Mostly gone about 30 to 35 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Tesamorelin | about 8 to 11 minutes LabelSingle subcutaneous dose in healthy adults: 11 minutes for Egrifta WR 1.28 mg, 8 minutes for Egrifta SV 1.4 mg.Egrifta WR and Egrifta SV labels, section 12.3 (DailyMed) | Mostly gone about 40 to 55 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Glutathione | about 14 minutes LabelPlasma half-life stated in the Italian TAD label: 14.1 ± 9.2 minutes.TAD summary of product characteristics, section 5.2 (Italy) | Mostly gone about 70 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| ARA-290 | about 20 minutes TrialTerminal half-life after 4 mg subcutaneous in healthy volunteers; peak about 3 ng/mL.Brines et al., Mol Med 2015, PMID 25387363 (citing Niesters et al. 2013) | Mostly gone about 100 minutes after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| BPC-157 | under 30 minutes AnimalElimination half-life after IV or IM dosing in rats and beagle dogs.He et al., Front Pharmacol 2022, PMID 36588717 | Measured only in animals. How long it lasts in people is unknown.Some sites quote 4 hours for BPC-157. The only measured values, in rats and dogs, are under 30 minutes. | |
| Follistatin-344 | about 4 minutes, then about 2 hours, in rats AnimalAfter 1 mcg of radioiodine-labeled follistatin into a vein in rats: initial half-life 4.0 minutes and terminal half-life 130.8 minutes, measured as radioactivity, with most of it taken up by the liver. No human measurement exists for injected follistatin.Kogure et al., Hepatology 1996, PMID 8690405 | Measured only in animals. How long it lasts in people is unknown. | |
| GHRP-2 | about 25 to 40 minutes LabelElimination half-life of 0.42–0.69 hours after IV doses of 0.3–3 mcg/kg in 18 healthy men; a study in 10 children given 1 mcg/kg IV found 0.55 hours.GHRP Kaken 100 package insert (Japan), rev. July 2025, section 16.1; Pihoker et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1998, PMID 9543135 | Mostly gone about 2.1 to 3.5 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Dihexa | about 1.5 hours TrialPlasma half-life of the active molecule, called ATH-1001 in the trials, after its prodrug fosgonimeton was injected under the skin in 88 people. A slower tail with a half-life near 5 hours appeared now and then at 40 mg and above. Nobody has measured it after a dose by mouth.Hua et al., J Alzheimers Dis 2022, PMID 35180125 | Mostly gone about 7.5 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses.Measured as the active molecule released from the injected prodrug fosgonimeton. No one has measured it after a dose by mouth. | |
| Ipamorelin | about 2 hours TrialTerminal half-life after a 15-minute IV infusion in healthy men. FDA found no subcutaneous human data.Gobburu et al., Pharm Res 1999, PMID 10496658; FDA PCAC briefing 2024 | Mostly gone about 10 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Thymosin Alpha-1 | about 2 hours LabelSerum half-life after subcutaneous injection, with peak levels at about 2 hours. The Italian label gives a later peak, at about 6 hours, with levels back to baseline within 24 hours.Zadaxin package insert (BPOM Indonesia); Zadaxin label (RxList); Zadaxin SmPC, section 5.2 (AIFA, Italy, 2026) | Mostly gone about 10 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Exenatide | about 2.4 hours LabelTwice-daily pen, subcutaneous, in adults with type 2 diabetes: levels peak about 2.1 hours after a dose and stay measurable for about 10 hours. The weekly microsphere form (Bydureon BCise) released it slowly, reaching steady levels after about 10 weeks.Exenatide injection label rev. 05/2026, section 12.3; Bydureon BCise label rev. 05/2025, section 12.3 | Mostly gone about 12 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| GHRP-6 | about 2.5 hours TrialElimination half-life after a single IV dose in 9 healthy men, following a fast first phase of about 8 minutes. An older study using a less specific blood test measured about 20 minutes after IV and oral doses.Cabrales et al., Eur J Pharm Sci 2013 (doi:10.1016/j.ejps.2012.10.006), as cited in Dominikowski et al., Front Endocrinol 2026; Bowers et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1992, PMID 1730807 | Mostly gone about 13 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| PT-141 | about 2.7 hours LabelMean terminal half-life after a single subcutaneous dose, range 1.9 to 4.0 hours.Vyleesi prescribing information, clinical pharmacology (DailyMed, Nov 2025) | Mostly gone about 14 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses. | |
| Triptorelin | about 3 hours LabelAfter a 0.5 mg intravenous dose in healthy men the level falls in three phases, with half-lives of about 6 minutes, 45 minutes and 3 hours (2.8 hours terminal), rising to 6.6–7.7 hours with kidney or liver impairment. This is the peptide itself: the depots keep releasing it for 4 to 24 weeks, so their effect lasts far longer.Trelstar prescribing information, section 12.3; Müller et al., Br J Clin Pharmacol 1997, PMID 9354307 | Mostly gone about 14 to 15 hours after the last dose. Levels don’t build up between daily doses.This is the peptide itself. The approved depots release it for 4 to 24 weeks, so their effect lasts far longer. | |
| 5-Amino-1MQ | about 4 to 7 hours in rats Animal3.8 hours after IV and 6.9 hours after oral dosing in rats; oral bioavailability about 38%. No human data.Awosemo et al., J Pharm Biomed Anal 2021, PMID 34304009 | Measured only in animals. How long it lasts in people is unknown. | |
| Liraglutide | about 13 hours LabelAfter a subcutaneous dose; levels peak 8–12 hours after injection, and about 55% of the dose reaches the blood.Victoza prescribing information rev. 10/2025 and Saxenda rev. 02/2026, section 12.3 | Mostly gone about 3 days after the last dose. | |
| Melanotan 1 | about 15 hours LabelApparent half-life with the 16 mg subcutaneous slow-release implant, in adults. Injected solution is not covered by the label.Scenesse prescribing information, clinical pharmacology (DailyMed, May 2026) | Mostly gone about 3 days after the last dose.The approved implant releases the drug over several days, so levels last longer than the half-life alone suggests. | |
| L-Carnitine | about 17 hours LabelApparent terminal half-life after a single 20 mg/kg IV dose; distribution half-life about 35 minutes.Carnitor injection label, Pharmacokinetics section (DailyMed) | Mostly gone about 4 days after the last dose. | |
| hCG | about 29 hours LabelTerminal half-life after 250 mcg subcutaneous recombinant hCG (Ovidrel) in healthy women. The urinary hCG labels (Novarel, Pregnyl) give no value.Ovidrel (choriogonadotropin alfa) label, clinical pharmacology, DailyMed | Mostly gone about 6 days after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 5 to 6 days. | |
| Orforglipron | about 29 to 49 hours LabelAfter an oral dose; levels peak 4 to 8 hours after each dose and reach steady state after about 1 week of daily dosing.Foundayo prescribing information rev. 07/2026, section 12.3; same range at week 12 in Pratt et al., Diabetes Obes Metab 2023, PMID 37264711 | Mostly gone about 6 to 10 days after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 5 to 10 days. | |
| Tirzepatide | about 5 to 6 days LabelSubcutaneous, in adults with overweight or obesity or sleep apnea (Zepbound label); the Mounjaro label states about 5 days.Zepbound and Mounjaro prescribing information rev. 08/2026, section 12.3 | Mostly gone about 4 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 3 to 4 weeks. | |
| Retatrutide | about 6 days TrialSubcutaneous weekly dosing in adults with type 2 diabetes (phase 1b, 12 weeks).Urva et al., Lancet 2022, PMID 36354040 | Mostly gone about 4 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 3 to 4 weeks. | |
| CJC-1295 with DAC | about 6 to 8 days TrialEstimated at 5.8 to 8.1 days after subcutaneous doses in healthy adults; the DAC group binds blood albumin.Teichman et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006, PMID 16352683 | Mostly gone about 4 to 6 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 3 to 6 weeks. | |
| Semaglutide | about 1 week LabelSubcutaneous, in adults with overweight or obesity; stays in the blood for about 5 to 7 weeks after the last dose.Wegovy prescribing information rev. 06/2026, section 12.3; Ozempic label also states about 1 week | Mostly gone about 5 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 4 to 5 weeks. | |
| Cagrilintide | about 7 to 8 days (159 to 195 hours) TrialSubcutaneous weekly doses of 0.16 to 4.5 mg given with semaglutide 2.4 mg, in adults with overweight (phase 1b).Enebo et al., Lancet 2021, PMID 33894838 | Mostly gone about 5 to 6 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 4 to 6 weeks. | |
| Tesofensine | about 8 to 9 days TrialPlasma half-life in people taking it by mouth, reported as over 200 hours; reviews cite early clinical studies, including in Parkinson’s disease.Krug et al., Drug Test Anal 2026, PMID 42320973 (citing Bara-Jimenez et al., Mov Disord 2004, PMID 15390018); Coulter et al., Drugs 2018, PMID 30014268 | Mostly gone about 6 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 5 to 6 weeks. | |
| Mazdutide | about 9 days TrialSingle 2 mg subcutaneous dose in Chinese adolescents with obesity (phase 1b); the authors report the same profile as in adults.Gong et al., ADA 2026 abstract 1133-OR (Diabetes 2026, suppl. 1), doi:10.2337/db26-1133-or; no PMID | Mostly gone about 6 weeks after the last dose. On a regular schedule, levels settle after about 5 to 6 weeks.From a conference abstract in adolescents, whose authors report the same profile as in adults. |
No reliable half-life found
Our review found no reliable published half-life for these 36. If you see a number for one of them elsewhere, look for the study behind it.
AOD9604, SLU-PP-332, HGH Fragment 176-191, Survodutide, NAD+, MOTS-c, SS-31, Epithalon, Humanin, FOXO4-DRI, TB-500, KPV, Cartalax, MGF, PEG-MGF, Thymosin Beta-4, Larazotide, CJC-1295 (no DAC), IGF-1 LR3, Hexarelin, MK-677, IGF-1 DES, GHK-Cu, AHK-Cu, SNAP-8, Melanotan 2, Argireline, Matrixyl, Semax, Adamax, DSIP, Cerebrolysin, Pinealon, PE-22-28, Thymalin, LL-37.
Blends take the half-lives of their parts.