Ipamorelin Dosing and Reconstitution Explained

Last updated: July 2026

Ipamorelin is dosed in micrograms, not milligrams, so once you reconstitute a vial the draws land in single digits on a U-100 insulin syringe — and the exact number of units depends entirely on how much bacteriostatic water you added, not on the peptide itself. There is no FDA-approved ipamorelin dose; it remains a research peptide, so the maths below tells you how many units a chosen dose becomes without endorsing any dose.

Have an ipamorelin vial and a target dose in mcg? Get the exact mL and U-100 syringe units in seconds.

Peptide reconstitution calculator →

TL;DR — key takeaways

It is a microgram peptide. A 5 mg vial holds 5,000 mcg, and typical example doses discussed in the literature are two orders of magnitude smaller than a GLP-1 dose — so the draws are tiny.
Units follow concentration. The same 200 mcg dose is 8 units from one mix but only 4 units from a mix made with half the water.
Not FDA-approved. Ipamorelin is an investigational growth hormone secretagogue; no regulator has set a human dose, purity, or potency standard for it.
Short half-life. Its plasma half-life is roughly two hours, which is why it is studied as a pulsatile rather than a once-weekly peptide.
The maths is universal. Concentration is mg ÷ mL; units are mL × 100. Nothing here is drug-specific — or medical advice.

What ipamorelin is and why the dose is small

Ipamorelin is a synthetic pentapeptide (Aib-His-D-2-Nal-D-Phe-Lys-NH₂) that acts as a selective agonist at the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R1a), the same ghrelin receptor targeted by GHRP-2 and GHRP-6. It was described in 1998 as the first secretagogue to release growth hormone with GHRH-like selectivity — that is, without the cortisol and prolactin spikes seen with earlier peptides. Because it works at a receptor rather than being replaced dose-for-dose like testosterone, its effective amounts are measured in micrograms, which is why it shares a number line with other peptides measured in mcg rather than the milligrams on a GLP-1 label.

Two facts shape how it is dosed. Its plasma half-life is only about two hours, so any protocol spreads small amounts through the day rather than relying on one large injection. And — the honest part — ipamorelin has never been approved for any indication: it reached phase 2 testing for postoperative ileus and went no further, so every microgram figure you see online is an illustrative or research amount, not a label dose.

Reconstitution: turning a powder vial into a concentration

Ipamorelin arrives as a lyophilised (freeze-dried) powder, usually in a 5 mg or 10 mg vial. You make it injectable by adding bacteriostatic water — sterile water with 0.9% benzyl alcohol as a preservative so the vial can be used over several days. The amount of water you add is what sets the concentration, and therefore the units:

Concentration = milligrams in the vial ÷ millilitres of water added.
Draw volume = your dose ÷ concentration (convert mcg to mg first, or work in mcg throughout).
Units = draw volume in mL × 100, because a U-100 syringe reads 100 units per 1 mL.

A shortcut makes microgram dosing painless: work out the mcg per unit. One unit is 0.01 mL, so at any concentration each unit carries (concentration in mcg/mL ÷ 100) micrograms. Once you know that, every dose is a single division.

Worked example 1 — a 5 mg vial, 2 mL water

5 mg ÷ 2 mL = 2.5 mg/mL, which is 2,500 mcg/mL. Each unit therefore holds 2,500 ÷ 100 = 25 mcg.

For a 100 mcg dose: 100 ÷ 25 = 4 units.

Draw 4 units on a U-100 syringe.

Worked example 2 — the same mix, larger doses

Still 25 mcg per unit. A 200 mcg dose = 200 ÷ 25 = 8 units; a 300 mcg dose = 300 ÷ 25 = 12 units.

The mcg-per-unit trick means every dose from this vial is just the dose divided by 25.

Worked example 3 — same vial, half the water

5 mg ÷ 1 mL = 5 mg/mL = 5,000 mcg/mL, so 50 mcg per unit. Now a 200 mcg dose = 200 ÷ 50 = 4 units.

Half the water doubled the concentration and halved the units — for the identical 200 mcg dose.

Worked example 4 — a 10 mg vial, 2 mL water

10 mg ÷ 2 mL = 5 mg/mL = 5,000 mcg/mL = 50 mcg per unit. A 300 mcg dose = 300 ÷ 50 = 6 units.

Note this 10 mg / 2 mL mix has the same strength as the 5 mg / 1 mL mix — concentration, not vial size, is what sets the units.

Worked example 5 — a gentler mix from a 10 mg vial

10 mg ÷ 5 mL = 2 mg/mL = 2,000 mcg/mL = 20 mcg per unit. A 200 mcg dose = 200 ÷ 20 = 10 units.

More water spreads the same dose across more units, which can make small doses easier to read on the barrel.

Worked example 6 — reading the answer back

You drew 10 units from the 2,500 mcg/mL mix in Example 1. Reverse it: 10 units = 0.1 mL, × 2,500 mcg/mL = 250 mcg delivered. Units-to-mcg is just the same maths run backwards.

Worked example 7 — a half-unit dose

At 5,000 mcg/mL (50 mcg per unit), a 125 mcg dose = 125 ÷ 50 = 2.5 units. If your syringe cannot read half-units, a lower-concentration mix (Example 5, 20 mcg per unit) turns the same 125 mcg into a cleaner 6.25 units — still awkward, so round the mix, not the dose.

Dose-to-units reference chart

Units on a U-100 syringe for common example doses at three concentrations. These doses are arithmetic illustrations, not recommendations — always confirm against your own vial label and your prescriber's instructions.

Dose	At 2,000 mcg/mL	At 2,500 mcg/mL	At 5,000 mcg/mL
100 mcg	5 units	4 units	2 units
150 mcg	7.5 units	6 units	3 units
200 mcg	10 units	8 units	4 units
250 mcg	12.5 units	10 units	5 units
300 mcg	15 units	12 units	6 units

Read down a single column once your mix is set; the whole column scales linearly with the dose. A stronger mix pushes every draw into low single digits, where a one-unit misread is a bigger percentage error — a reason many people choose a gentler concentration for microgram peptides.

How small the draw really is, visualised

A 200 mcg dose from a 2,500 mcg/mL mix is 8 units — a sliver of a full U-100 barrel. Seeing it to scale is the best argument for measuring carefully.

How this is calculated

Every figure here rests on two facts and no drug-specific constant: a U-100 syringe holds 100 units per mL, and concentration is milligrams divided by the millilitres of water you add. Convert your dose to the same unit as the concentration, divide to get millilitres, and multiply by 100 for units — or use the mcg-per-unit shortcut and divide once. The arithmetic is identical whether the vial says ipamorelin, BPC-157, or tirzepatide. The reconstitution calculator automates this so you can cross-check against the chart above. This page is maths, not a recommendation to use ipamorelin.

Safety and honest caveats

Ipamorelin is not approved by the FDA or any comparable regulator for human use — it is sold for research, so no authority has verified a safe dose, and compounded vials are not checked for the purity or potency approved drugs must meet. Published human data are limited to small early-phase studies, its development for postoperative ileus was discontinued, and its long-term effects are not established. Growth hormone secretagogues can affect blood glucose and IGF-1 levels, so they are not benign. Only handle any injectable under a qualified clinician's direction, store the reconstituted vial refrigerated, and treat every microgram figure here as arithmetic, not medical guidance.

Frequently asked questions

How many units is a 200 mcg ipamorelin dose?

It depends on the concentration. From a 2,500 mcg/mL mix it is 8 units; from 5,000 mcg/mL it is 4 units; from 2,000 mcg/mL it is 10 units. The micrograms are the same — the units change with how much water you added.

How much bacteriostatic water do I add to an ipamorelin vial?

There is no single correct amount. More water lowers the concentration and raises the units per dose; less water does the opposite. Pick a volume that keeps your intended dose to a readable number of units, and follow your prescriber or compounding pharmacy's instruction.

Why is ipamorelin dosed in micrograms instead of milligrams?

It acts at the ghrelin/GH secretagogue receptor, where very small amounts are active, so effective doses are hundreds of micrograms rather than milligrams. A 5 mg vial holds 5,000 mcg, enough for many small doses.

Is ipamorelin an approved medicine?

No. It is an investigational research peptide with no FDA approval for any use. Human evidence is limited, and no regulator has set a standard dose, purity, or potency for it.

Sources

This guide is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always follow your prescriber’s specific instructions and consult a qualified clinician before changing any protocol.