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Peptides/Sleep, mood and focus

Semax

Also sold as N-acetyl semax, ACTH 4-10 analogue

A nootropic nasal spray from the same Russian programme as Selank. Used there after stroke; sold everywhere else for focus and memory.

Research onlyNo human trials
Photo by Negative Space · CC0 1.0 · source

At a glance

What people use it for

  • Focus and mental clarity
  • Memory and learning
  • Marketed for recovery after brain injury

How it is taken

Sold as a nasal spray, sometimes as a powder for injection.

Evidence

No human trials

Good to know

  • Human evidence is almost entirely Russian and not independently replicated
  • Unapproved and unregulated outside Russia
  • Nasal irritation is common
  • Effects on brain chemistry over years are unknown

Semax is a short fragment of ACTH with the hormonal activity removed, leaving effects on the brain. It shares a research lineage with Selank and the same regulatory situation: a registered medicine in Russia, unapproved anywhere else.

What people take it for

Concentration, mental stamina and memory, particularly among students and people doing demanding cognitive work. It is one of the better known nootropics sold as a peptide.

In Russia it is used clinically after ischaemic stroke and for cognitive disorders, which is a considerably more serious application than the focus-spray marketing suggests.

What the evidence shows

Russian trials report benefits after stroke and effects on BDNF, a protein involved in the growth and maintenance of neurons. Animal work supports neuroprotective activity.

The same caveat as Selank applies, and it is the important one. The evidence base sits almost entirely within one country's literature and has not been replicated by independent groups elsewhere. Nothing about that makes it false. It does mean nobody outside that system has checked.

For healthy adults wanting sharper focus, there is no good trial at all.

What to know before

Mechanisms and outcomes are different things. Raising BDNF in an animal is a promising start; thinking more clearly in a meeting is the result people want, and that step has not been shown yet.

Last reviewed .