Are semax and selank approved medicines?

In Russia, yes — both are registered and have been in clinical use for years. Nowhere else. No Western regulator has reviewed either, and the trial record behind the Russian approvals is mostly unavailable in English and has not been independently replicated.

Why did these move out of anti-aging and longevity?

Because they were only there for want of anywhere else. They act on cognition and mood, the claims made for them are cognitive claims, and grouping them with NAD+ and the mitochondrial peptides made both categories less useful. Every page and link that pointed at them still works.

Is there anything here with real human evidence?

Cerebrolysin has the largest trial record, in stroke and dementia rather than in healthy adults. Semax and selank have Russian clinical use behind them. Everything else on this page is preclinical or rests on small unreplicated studies, and each compound page states which.

Cognition & mood

The nootropics and neuropeptides — semax, selank, noopept and the rest. Almost all of it is Russian-language literature, and almost none of it has been replicated anywhere else.

These were filed under longevity until recently, which was wrong in a way worth naming: a compound is not an anti-ageing compound because it is hard to categorise. What they have in common is that they act on the brain, and that the claims made for them are about how you feel and think rather than about anything a scale or a blood panel can settle.

That makes this the hardest category on the site to read honestly. The outcome is subjective, the placebo response for anything sold as a cognitive enhancer is large and well documented, and the literature is thin enough that a single small study gets quoted for a decade.

Semax

Approved for another indication

A seven-amino-acid peptide developed in Russia and approved there for stroke and cognitive indications. It holds no approval elsewhere and is used nasally rather than injected.

Cognition & mood

Cerebrolysin

Approved for another indication

A pig-brain peptide preparation approved as a medicine in around forty countries. Decades of trials, and systematic reviews that still cannot find a clear benefit.

Cognition & mood

Dihexa

Preclinical

A small peptide reported as vastly more potent than BDNF at forming new synapses in animals. No human has been studied on it, and the potency is the concern, not the selling point.

Cognition & mood

N-Acetyl Semax Amidate

Preclinical

Semax with both ends chemically capped so it lasts longer. More potent per milligram in animal work, and no human trial of the modified version exists.

Cognition & mood

Adamax

Preclinical

A Semax derivative sold with adamantane-related branding. The least documented compound on this site, and that is saying something.

Cognition & mood

Adalank

Preclinical

Selank with both ends capped against degradation. The same trade as the amidated Semax: longer-lasting, and no human evidence for the modified form.

Cognition & mood

Noopept

Approved for another indication

A Russian prescription nootropic, registered there since 1996. Not a peptide despite the name, and unapproved everywhere else.

Cognition & mood

Bromantane

Approved for another indication

A Russian anti-asthenic drug, and a documented doping agent. It produced a positive test at the 1996 Olympics and is prohibited by WADA.

Cognition & mood

P21

Preclinical

A tetrapeptide derived from a nerve growth factor, engineered to reach the brain. Real academic research, entirely in mice.

Cognition & mood

PE-22-28

Preclinical

A spadin-derived peptide targeting a potassium channel. A genuinely novel antidepressant mechanism, demonstrated in mice and nowhere else.

Cognition & mood

Cyclic Glycine-Proline

Preclinical

A naturally occurring metabolite of IGF-1 that appears to regulate how much IGF-1 is available, which is the opposite of supplying more of it.

Cognition & mood

Semax / Selank

Preclinical

Two Russian-developed neuropeptides in one vial, usually 10 mg of each. Both rest on literature that has not been independently replicated in the West.

Cognition & mood

Selank

Approved for another indication

A seven-amino-acid peptide developed in Russia and used there for anxiety. Nasal rather than injected, and the sibling compound to Semax.

Cognition & mood

Where the evidence actually comes from

Semax and selank were developed in the Soviet Union and are registered medicines in Russia. That is a real regulatory approval and it is not an FDA or EMA one — the trials behind it are largely unavailable in English, were mostly small, and have not been replicated by independent groups outside the country. Both facts belong in the same sentence, and summaries usually carry only one of them.

Noopept is the same story with a different molecule. Cerebrolysin is the outlier: it is a porcine brain-derived preparation with a substantially larger and more international trial record, mostly in stroke and dementia rather than in healthy people.

Dihexa, P21 and the newer synthetics have no human data at all. They are preclinical compounds with striking results in rodents, which is where every failed drug also starts.

Why subjective endpoints are the whole problem

Weight loss can be weighed. A tendon either takes load or it does not. Cognition and mood are measured by asking someone, and someone who has bought a compound and reconstituted it has a strong prior about whether it works.

This is not an argument that nothing here does anything. It is an argument that self-reported improvement is close to worthless as evidence in this category specifically, and that a testimonial you read is not a weaker version of a trial — it is a different kind of thing.

Where a formal cognitive battery has been used we say so on the compound page. Where the endpoint was a questionnaire, we say that too.

Routes, and why they matter here

Much of this category is intranasal rather than injected, which is unusual on this site and is not a convenience. The intent is to reach the brain without crossing the whole circulation first, and how well that works varies enormously by molecule and by how the spray is actually used.

It also means the dose that arrives is far less certain than an injected one. A drawn volume is a known quantity; a nasal dose depends on the device, the technique and the state of the mucosa on the day.

Common questions

Are semax and selank approved medicines?: In Russia, yes — both are registered and have been in clinical use for years. Nowhere else. No Western regulator has reviewed either, and the trial record behind the Russian approvals is mostly unavailable in English and has not been independently replicated.
Why did these move out of anti-aging and longevity?: Because they were only there for want of anywhere else. They act on cognition and mood, the claims made for them are cognitive claims, and grouping them with NAD+ and the mitochondrial peptides made both categories less useful. Every page and link that pointed at them still works.
Is there anything here with real human evidence?: Cerebrolysin has the largest trial record, in stroke and dementia rather than in healthy adults. Semax and selank have Russian clinical use behind them. Everything else on this page is preclinical or rests on small unreplicated studies, and each compound page states which.

Last updated 5 Sept 2026

Cognition & mood

Where the evidence actually comes from

Why subjective endpoints are the whole problem

Routes, and why they matter here

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Common questions