The Russian Nootropic
Semax
Also known as ACTH(4–10) analogue · Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro · Semax acetate
At a glance
- What it is
- Heptapeptide with Russian stroke-rehabilitation data, used off-label for cognition.
- Evidence
- Small human studiesHow the tiers workThe human data on Semax is Russian, largely open-label, single-country, and about stroke rehabilitation rather than healthy-adult cognition. Why this tier
- Half-life
- Not established in available literature
- Routes
- Intranasal, Subcutaneous
- Category
- Cognitive
- WADA
- We do not state a status
- Amino acids
- 7
Putting Semax on a schedule, with the vial it comes from and a log of each dose, happens in the app: Claritide for iPhone.
Why this tier
The human data on Semax is Russian, largely open-label, single-country, and about stroke rehabilitation rather than healthy-adult cognition. The one study we can name is PMID 29798983 (2018), two courses of 6,000 mcg/day for 10 days, reported by secondary sources as non-randomised open-label with about 110 patients, showing raised plasma BDNF and improvement on the Barthel index and MRC motor scale over roughly five months. The sample size and design details are second-hand. Everything published since is animal work. Our sources list no side effects and no contraindications for Semax, and that is an absence of research rather than a clean safety record.
What it is
Semax is a synthetic seven-amino-acid analogue of the ACTH(4–10) fragment, registered in Russia as a prescription medicine sold as nasal drops. Its human evidence is a small body of largely open-label Russian work in ischaemic stroke recovery, not in healthy-adult cognition. In July 2026 an FDA advisory committee voted to recommend it for US compounding, for cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia.
How it works
Semax is built from the ACTH(4–10) fragment with a Pro-Gly-Pro tail attached. That tail is the engineering: it resists breakdown by enkephalinase and exopeptidases, which is why the molecule lasts appreciably longer in the body than the bare ACTH fragment would. The proposed primary action is rapid upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its TrkB receptor in the hippocampus, the growth-factor signalling that supports synaptic plasticity. That direction is corroborated in humans: the 2018 stroke study measured plasma BDNF and found it increased. Serotonergic and dopaminergic modulation are also proposed, and those finer mechanistic claims come from vendor material rather than from published pharmacology.
Commonly researched ranges
- Registered instruction · 0.1% nasal drops200–2000 mcg
The Russian registered instruction for the 0.1% solution: 50 mcg per drop, 4 to 12 drops per administration, and 500–5000 mcg across a day. This is the evidenced route and the only one carrying a label. Stated first because everything below it is either a stroke protocol or community practice.
- Ischaemic stroke (published trial)6000 mcg
The regimen in PMID 29798983. This is a rehabilitation protocol in stroke patients, not a cognitive-enhancement dose.
- Russian stroke protocols9000–18000 mcg
Reported as a 1% solution. Vendor-tier: no label or trial citation located. Note the ceiling: the 1% instruction gives a daily maximum of 12 mg, so the 18 mg end of this range sits above what the label supports and must not be read as label-backed.
- Community cognitive use600–1200 mcg
Reported as a 0.1% solution. Vendor-tier: no trial support at this dose or for this purpose.
| Phase | Amount | Frequency | Timing | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered instruction · 0.1% nasal drops | 200–2000 mcg | Per administration, two to three times daily | Not established in available literature | The Russian registered instruction for the 0.1% solution: 50 mcg per drop, 4 to 12 drops per administration, and 500–5000 mcg across a day. This is the evidenced route and the only one carrying a label. Stated first because everything below it is either a stroke protocol or community practice. |
| Ischaemic stroke (published trial) | 6000 mcg | Daily for 10 days, two courses with a 20-day gap | Not established in available literature | The regimen in PMID 29798983. This is a rehabilitation protocol in stroke patients, not a cognitive-enhancement dose. |
| Russian stroke protocols | 9000–18000 mcg | Daily, started within 6–12 hours of onset | Not established in available literature | Reported as a 1% solution. Vendor-tier: no label or trial citation located. Note the ceiling: the 1% instruction gives a daily maximum of 12 mg, so the 18 mg end of this range sits above what the label supports and must not be read as label-backed. |
| Community cognitive use | 600–1200 mcg | Daily, split across the day | Not established in available literature | Reported as a 0.1% solution. Vendor-tier: no trial support at this dose or for this purpose. |
- Cycle guidance
- The published stroke protocol is two 10-day courses separated by 20 days. Our sources publish no cycling schedule for cognitive use.
- Goals
- Cognition
Where this sits with the FDA
FDA 503A bulks list · nominated, nomination withdrawn, advisory committee recommended; rulemaking pending
An advisory vote is not a rule and Semax is not lawfully compoundable in the US today. Note what FDA actually assessed: cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia, not healthy-adult cognition, which is what the community runs it for. Whatever emerges from rulemaking will be scoped to the assessed indications. The day-two vote tallies come from trade reporting rather than published minutes; the direction is corroborated, the exact numbers are not.
Last change · 24 July 2026 · On 24 July 2026 the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 8–5–1 to recommend adding Semax to the 503A bulks list, for cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia.
Primary sourceHow it got here
- 22 April 2026
FDA removed 12 peptide bulk substances from Category 2 after the nominators withdrew their nominations. Announced 15 April 2026, effective 22 April 2026. Removal from Category 2 is not permission to compound.
- 24 July 2026
PCAC voted in favour of recommending Semax for the 503A bulks list. The tally is reported as 8–5–1 by trade press; FDA has not published minutes.
Vote 8–5–1 · Assessed for Cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia
An advisory vote is not law. In July 2026 an FDA advisory committee voted in favour of adding several peptides to the 503A bulks list, over the explicit recommendation of FDA’s own scientific reviewers, who recommended against all seven. FDA would still have to write a rule, and it has not proposed one or given a date. None of these compounds is lawfully compoundable today.Note what FDA actually assessed: BPC-157 for ulcerative colitis, TB-500 for wound healing, KPV for wound healing and inflammatory conditions, MOTS-c for obesity and osteoporosis, Epitalon for insomnia, Semax for cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia. Whatever emerges from rulemaking will be scoped to those indications.
WADA status
Not named on WADA’s 2026 Prohibited List. Its S0 section also bans drugs it does not name, when no government health authority currently approves them for human treatment. Semax is registered in Russia as a prescription medicine, nasal drops for stroke recovery and other brain conditions. So S0 may not cover it, and we do not state a status.
We looked and could not resolve it. This is not the same as "not prohibited". Treat it as unresolved and check with your federation before competing.
The FDA reclassification has no effect whatsoever on WADA status.
Mixing recipes our sources document
Not established in available literature. Use the calculator with the figures printed on your own vial.
Open the calculator
Week by week
Not established in available literature.
Side effects
Not established in available literature. Absence from this page does not mean absence of risk. It means our sources publish no side-effect profile for Semax.
Contraindications and interactions
Do not use if
Not established in available literature.
Interactions
Not established in available literature.
Absence from this list does NOT mean safety. It means lack of research.
Storage and cost
- Storage
- Sold as a solution for intranasal use, or as lyophilised powder for reconstitution. Our sources do not state a diluent pairing or a beyond-use window, so we publish neither.
- Cost
- Not established in available literature
Stacks with
Curated stacks including it
Semax in full
What it is
Semax is a synthetic heptapeptide: the ACTH(4–10) fragment with a proline-glycine-proline tail attached. Adrenocorticotropic hormone drives cortisol release; the 4–10 fragment does not, which is the point: it retains behavioural and neurotrophic activity without the hormonal arm.
The tail is the engineering. Pro-Gly-Pro resists enkephalinase and exopeptidase degradation, so the molecule survives long enough to do something. That is a real and specific design decision, and it is the difference between Semax and the bare fragment it is built from.
What it is proposed to do
The primary mechanism claimed for Semax is rapid upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its TrkB receptor in the hippocampus. BDNF is the growth factor most closely associated with synaptic plasticity and learning, and it is one of the few mechanistic claims here that has human corroboration: the 2018 Russian stroke study measured plasma BDNF and found it rose.
Beyond that, serotonergic and dopaminergic modulation are proposed. Those claims come from vendor material rather than from published pharmacology, and we mark them as such.
What the evidence actually supports
One human study we can name. "The efficacy of semax in the treatment of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke", published in a Russian neurology and psychiatry journal in 2018, PMID 29798983: two courses of 6,000 mcg per day for ten days. Secondary sources describe it as a non-randomised open-label study in around 110 patients showing increased plasma BDNF and improvements on the Barthel index and the Medical Research Council motor scale over about five months. The sample size and design details are second-hand, since we could not read the primary paper, so treat them as partial.
Everything published recently is animal work: several 2025 papers in Acta Naturae, the British Journal of Pharmacology, the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, and F1000Research.
Semax is registered in Russia as a prescription medicine, sold as nasal drops. The Eurasian Economic Union's register of medicines lists two current Russian registrations, from March and June 2025, for 0.1% and 1% drops. The 0.1% drops are registered for stroke recovery and other brain conditions, optic nerve atrophy and, from age 7, attention deficit. The 1% drops are for the acute phase of ischaemic stroke. It is not trivia: a current approval anywhere is what takes a substance outside the WADA S0 catch-all, so S0 may not apply to Semax.
The gap worth naming
In July 2026 FDA's advisory committee voted in favour of adding Semax to the 503A bulks list, for cerebral ischaemia, migraine and trigeminal neuralgia. Nobody in the nootropic community is taking Semax for trigeminal neuralgia. The evidenced use and the actual use are different things, and whatever comes out of rulemaking will be scoped to the former.
What we do not publish
Three items that circulate widely and are not sourced to anything we can check: the rule that all doses should be taken before 2 PM to avoid sleep interference, the sequencing instruction to dose Selank first and Semax fifteen to thirty minutes later, and a contraindication in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Any of them may be true. None of them has a citation. If we want them on the page, someone reads the Russian register or a pharmacokinetics paper first.
Half-life is null for the same reason: vendor pages state either "around 20 minutes" or "0.5 to 2 hours" and no primary source resolves it.
Side effects
Our sources publish none, and we publish an empty list rather than inventing reassurance. An empty side-effect list on a compound with one accessible human study is a statement about how little has been looked at, not about how safe it is.
Sources
- 1Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova, 2018 · The efficacy of semax in the treatment of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke
- 2Federal Register public inspection document 2026-07361 · Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee
- 3Mintz, 29 July 2026 · FDA advisory committee votes on peptides: what it does and does not mean
- 4Acta Naturae, 2025 · Semax preclinical study
- 5Br J Pharmacol, 2025 · Semax preclinical study
- 6Semax 0.1% nasal drops · registered instruction. 50 mcg per drop, 200–2000 mcg per administration, 500–5000 mcg daily (dose review, 2026-08-17)
- 7Semax 1% nasal drops · registered instruction. 500 mcg per drop; its stated daily maximum is 12 mg, below the 18 mg used in the 1997 stroke work (dose review, 2026-08-17)
- 8Gusev et al., 1997 · Semax in acute ischaemic stroke, the source of the 18 mg/day figure (dose review, 2026-08-17)
- 9Eurasian Economic Union · unified register of medicines: Semax® 0.1% nasal drops, LP-(009449)-(RG-RU), 26 March 2025, and Semax® 1% nasal drops, LP-(010596)-(RG-RU), 18 June 2025, both registered in Russia (read 28 September 2026)
Every record in this library is free to read, and it stays free. Your own schedule, vials and log live in the app: Claritide for iPhone.