A Victorian coroner has found that the death of the Australian actor and stuntman Richard Norton followed an injection of the peptides CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, which a doctor had prescribed to him. Coroner David Ryan's findings were published on Wednesday 28 October.
Norton, who was 75, died at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on 30 March 2025. Neither peptide is approved for therapeutic use in Australia.
What the coroner found
According to reports of the findings, Ryan concluded that an injection of the two peptides triggered anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction, and that this led to cardiac arrest. Reports of the findings also name asthma and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as contributing conditions.
Norton was prescribed the peptides on 19 March 2025, after blood tests and after signing an informed consent form that listed anaphylaxis among the risks. On 28 March he told a nurse at the clinic that he was taking double the prescribed dose. The coroner found that he had been taking more than the prescribed amount.
What the coroner recommended
Ryan recommended that the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA, review the therapeutic benefits and safety risks of peptides such as CJC-1295 and ipamorelin and consider further restrictions. One option he raised was moving them from schedule 4, prescription-only medicines, to schedule 10, which would allow use only in clinical trials or other experimental settings.
An independent medical expert who reviewed the case found insufficient evidence that the two peptides are safe and effective. Reports say the Medical Board of Australia judged regulatory action against the prescribing doctor not warranted but required one-on-one training in record keeping. The doctor is not named here.
The regulator's response
The TGA told the Herald Sun that it will consider the findings and that health professionals are responsible for their own clinical decisions. Reports say the agency has been told of at least three other anaphylaxis cases linked to the two peptides, and that it has previously warned that unapproved peptides have not been evaluated for safety, quality or effectiveness.
The case is separate from the US policy announced the same day on six compounded peptides. CJC-1295 and ipamorelin are not among those six.
What is still unknown
It is not yet known whether the TGA will change the scheduling of either peptide or how long a review would take. The findings do not say how often similar reactions occur, and published human safety data on the two peptides are limited.
OrientSciences worked from news reports of the findings, mainly from Australian Associated Press, and did not read the coroner's document. Outlets differ on whether they describe the final event as anaphylaxis leading to cardiac arrest or simply as cardiac arrest after the injection.