Comparison
Noopept vs Semax
Two Russian nootropics reached for by the same people. One is a tablet, the other a nasal spray, and only one of them is a peptide.
Noopept is a synthetic dipeptide-derived compound taken orally. Semax is a peptide given nasally because it would not survive digestion. That difference in route follows from what they are.
Both hold Russian approvals for cognitive impairment after stroke or injury, and both are used far more widely than that for general cognitive enhancement — a use neither approval covers.
Their evidence sits in the same place: Russian clinical literature, largely untranslated and rarely replicated in Western trials. That is a real body of work and it is not the same as a registered phase 3 programme.
| Attribute | Noopept | Semax |
|---|---|---|
| Molecule type | Synthetic dipeptide derivative | Peptide, ACTH fragment 4-10 |
| Evidence level | Approved for another indication | Approved for another indication |
| Route | Oral | Nasal |
| Dosing frequency | Two or three times daily | Once or twice daily |
| Half-life | Not well characterised | About 30 minutes |
| Approved use | Cognitive impairment after stroke or injury | Stroke recovery |
| Western approval | None | None |
Things worth knowing
- Being oral makes noopept far easier to take, and that is most of why it is more widely used. It is not evidence that it works better.
- Neither has pharmacokinetics characterised well enough to say how long an effect should last. Reports of all-day effects from either are describing something other than measured drug exposure.
- The approved indication in both cases is recovery from injury, in people with a deficit. Enhancement in healthy people is a different claim and the trials behind the approvals do not address it.
Full profile
Noopept
A Russian prescription nootropic, registered there since 1996. Not a peptide despite the name, and unapproved everywhere else.
Full profile
Semax
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.
Related
This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on Bioalmanac is medical advice.