All three published clinical trials of Selank in anxious patients have a benzodiazepine in them.
In two, Selank was weighed against one. In the third, it was added to one. Not one of the three had a placebo group.
That tells you how Selank compares with a benzodiazepine. It can’t tell you how Selank compares with a sugar pill, and that’s the comparison that decides whether a drug works.
The three trials enrolled 62, 60 and 70 patients.
Each dot is one patient: 192 at most, if the three groups did not overlap. Counts from the PubMed abstracts.
The question people type is whether Selank calms anxiety like a benzo without the downsides. This page checks that against the papers, the Russian drug label and the FDA’s own pages, as of 25 October 2026.
This page gives no how-to-take advice and links to no seller. The legal section explains why.
On this page
What is Selank?
Selank is a synthetic peptide of seven amino acids (Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro). It is an analog of tuftsin, a four-amino-acid fragment of the immune protein IgG, with a Pro-Gly-Pro tail attached.1 It was developed in Russia, and there it is a registered anxiolytic sold as 0.15% nasal drops by Peptogen, without a prescription.2 In the US it isn’t an approved drug for anything.
You will also see it called TP-7, and “selank acetate” on FDA pages.3 The Russian label puts it in the “other anxiolytics” class, lists anxiety states, neurasthenia and stress disorders as its uses, and approves it for adults only.2
The Russian label makes two claims about how the body handles Selank:
- About 92.8% reaches the blood through the nose (its absolute bioavailability).2
- Neither unchanged peptide nor metabolites turn up in 24-hour urine, because tissue enzymes break Selank down fast.2
PubMed lists no human study of how Selank is absorbed or cleared.
What did the human trials find?
PubMed lists three clinical trials of Selank in patients, plus two smaller human studies. All five carry the same co-author: Nikolay Myasoedov of the Institute of Molecular Genetics, the institute behind Selank. The full texts sit in Russian-language journals, so the numbers below come from the PubMed abstracts.
How to read it. Small trial: under 100 patients, one country, no placebo. Biomarker: a blood measure, no symptom outcome. Imaging: a brain scan, no symptom outcome.
| Study | Who and what it compared | Design as published | Reported result | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Zozulya 20084Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr · 2008 | 62 patients with generalized anxiety disorder or neurasthenia (a fatigue-and-weakness diagnosis): 30 on Selank, 32 on medazepam, a benzodiazepine | Tagged randomized controlled trial in PubMed. Rated on the Hamilton, Zung and CGI scales. No placebo. | Similar anxiolytic effect. Selank also showed antiasthenic (anti-fatigue) and psychostimulant effects. | Small trial |
| 2Medvedev 20145Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr · 2014 | 60 patients with phobic-anxiety and somatoform disorders (physical symptoms without a clear physical cause). Selank compared with phenazepam, a benzodiazepine | Comparative clinical trial. No placebo. | Pronounced anxiolytic and mild nootropic effects of Selank. The anxiolytic effect lasted a week after patients stopped. The abstract gives no head-to-head result. | Small trial |
| 3Medvedev 20156Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr · 2015 | 70 patients with anxiety-phobic, hypochondriac and somatoform disorders: 30 on phenazepam alone, 40 on Selank plus phenazepam | Tagged randomized controlled trial in PubMed. HDRS, CGI, Spielberger, UKU side-effect scale, SF-36. No placebo. | Phenazepam’s effect came earlier with Selank added. Fewer phenazepam side effects, including attention and memory impairment, sedation and asthenia. | Small trial |
| 4Uchakina 20087Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr · 2008 | Patients with generalized anxiety disorder and neurasthenia, 14 days of Selank. The number of patients is not in the abstract. | Serum cytokine measures | Th1/Th2 cytokine balance shifted during Selank use. | Biomarker |
| 5Panikratova 20208Dokl Biol Sci · 2020 | 52 healthy adults given Selank, Semax or placebo | Placebo-controlled resting-state fMRI, before and 5 and 20 minutes after one administration | Changed connectivity between the right amygdala and the right temporal cortex. No symptoms measured. | Imaging |
The only placebo group in the whole human record is in the imaging study. It measured brain connectivity in healthy volunteers, not symptoms. So none of these papers shows Selank beating a placebo.
What can’t the trials show?
- There’s no placebo group. Anxiety scores fall in people who take a sugar pill, and a trial without one can’t separate the drug’s effect from that fall.
- The trials are small: 62, 60 and 70 patients.
- None of the three abstracts says whether patients or raters knew who got what.
- One research network ran them. Myasoedov is on all three papers, and all three appeared in the same Russian journal.
- None is registered. ClinicalTrials.gov lists no Selank trial, and PubMed lists no patient trial from outside Russia.9
- The only course length the abstracts state is 14 days.
Does Selank work like a benzodiazepine?
One trial reported similar anxiolytic effects for Selank and the benzodiazepine medazepam in 62 patients.4 A second compared Selank with phenazepam in 60 patients. Its abstract reports a pronounced anxiolytic effect for Selank but gives no head-to-head result.5 Those two trials are the evidence behind “Selank vs benzo.”
A third trial didn’t compare them. It added Selank to phenazepam in 70 patients. Phenazepam’s effect arrived earlier on the Hamilton depression scale, and the combination came with fewer of phenazepam’s side effects.6
A head-to-head with a benzodiazepine can show two treatments ended up in the same place. It can’t show how they got there, or whether a placebo would have got there too.
How is Selank supposed to work?
How to read it. Animal, Cell, Lab: no human symptom outcome. Biomarker: a human blood measure.
| Claim | Grade | What was actually done | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acts on GABA like a benzodiazepine | AnimalCell | In rat brain membranes, Selank behaved as a positive allosteric modulator, meaning it strengthened how GABA binds. It blocked diazepam’s effect in the same test, and the authors say the binding sites are apparently not the same.1 In rat frontal cortex, one administration changed 45 of 84 neurotransmission genes within an hour.10 In a human neuroblastoma cell line, it changed none.11 | The rat and the dish disagree. No human data. |
| Slows breakdown of the body’s own opioid peptides | LabBiomarker | In blood plasma, Selank blocked the enzymes that break down enkephalins (15 µM halved their activity). Patients with generalized anxiety had shorter enkephalin half-lives, and patients with panic disorder or agoraphobia did not.12 The half-life rose during Selank treatment, mostly in generalized anxiety.4 | A marker moved. Whether it explains any benefit was not tested. |
| Calms anxious animals | Animal | In mice, Selank calmed the anxious BALB/c strain and did nothing in C57BL/6 mice, by either of the two routes tested.13 | Response depends on the animal. No equivalent human data. |
| Raises BDNF | Animal | In rats that drank alcohol for 30 weeks, Selank prevented an alcohol-induced rise in BDNF in the hippocampus and frontal cortex.14 | The abstract reports a blocked rise, not a boost. |
| Acts on serotonin | Animal | In rats whose serotonin system was chemically depleted from birth, TP-7 normalized brain serotonin. A 1995 Russian paper.15 | One old rat study. |
What about the downsides?
The downsides people mean are sedation, memory problems and dependence. In the 2015 trial, adding Selank to phenazepam came with fewer reports of attention and memory impairment, sedation and asthenia than phenazepam alone.6 That compares a benzodiazepine with a benzodiazepine plus Selank. It doesn’t test Selank by itself.
On dependence, the Russian label says Selank causes no drug dependence or habituation.2 A label is the manufacturer’s statement. A 2021 review in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology called Selank “poorly studied” and called for abuse-potential testing of drugs like it before public access.16 PubMed lists no such testing.
How is Selank different from Semax?
Both peptides share the Pro-Gly-Pro tail and come from the same Russian research network. Their front halves differ, and so do their US paths.
| Selank | Semax | |
|---|---|---|
| Front half | Tuftsin, an immune-protein fragment | A fragment of the stress hormone ACTH |
| Main research use | Anxiety, fatigue and stress | Memory and stroke recovery |
| FDA compounding list | Not listedThe FDA lists “selank acetate (TP-7)” as nominated and withdrawn.3 | Advisory voteA committee voted 8-5-1 on 24 July 2026 to recommend adding it. The vote is advisory.17 |
| Head-to-head trial in patients | None | None |
| Only study giving both | 52 healthy volunteers, one administration, brain imaging, placebo group.8 | Same study |
No trial compared the two in patients, so nothing supports a ranking of one over the other. The full side-by-side, with a vendor certificate check, is on our Semax vs Selank page.
Is Selank safe?
The evidence can’t settle it. This is what exists.
- No study has tested Selank for tumor growth or cancer risk. Without data, the risk is unknown.
- The 2015 trial used the UKU side-effect scale. Its abstract says the combination lowered phenazepam’s side effects and doesn’t list side effects of Selank alone.6 (Grade: small trial.)
- The Russian label lists allergic reactions, with unknown frequency and sometimes delayed, and an unpleasant taste when drops reach the throat. It says not to use Selank in pregnancy, while breastfeeding, or under 18, because no clinical studies were done. It records no overdose cases, and it lists no established interaction with haloperidol, pentobarbital, hexobarbital, analeptics or ethanol.2 (Grade: label only.)
- The FDA says compounded drugs containing selank acetate “may pose risk for immunogenicity” (an immune reaction to the peptide) because peptides can aggregate and carry impurities. It also says it “lacks important information regarding any safety issues” raised by giving Selank to humans.3 (Grade: regulator assessment.)
- In rat blood tested by thromboelastography, Selank had the strongest anticoagulant effect of three related peptides.18 No human bleeding data exists. (Grade: animal.)
- The only course length stated in the abstracts, and on the label, is 14 days. No long-term safety study exists.
Is Selank FDA approved? Is it legal?
As of October 2026, Selank isn’t FDA approved. It is a registered medicine in Russia, and that is the only approval behind it.
| Where | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | Registered | Registered medicine: 0.15% nasal drops by Peptogen, sold without a prescription. Registration ЛП-010951. The RLS label was last changed on 15 July 2025.2 |
| US, FDA approval | Not approved | Not approved for any use. |
| US, pharmacy compounding (503A) | Not listed | Not on the bulks list. FDA lists “selank acetate (TP-7)” under bulk substances nominated but withdrawn by the nominator. Page current as of 22 April 2026.3 |
| US, July 2026 advisory meeting | Not on agenda | The committee voted on seven other peptides, including Semax.17 |
| US, online sellers | Unapproved drug | The FDA treats peptides marketed for human use as unapproved drugs. Five warning letters went out on 24 August 2026. They named GLP-1 type drugs, tesamorelin, PT-141 and supplies sold alongside them. None of the five mentions Selank.19,20 |
Status as of 25 October 2026. Check the FDA page again before you rely on it.
Legality turns on who sells it and how. Selling an unapproved drug for human use is what the FDA enforces against. On 24 August 2026 it sent five warning letters to online peptide sellers. One said a seller’s bacteriostatic water and “peptide calculator” provided “the means to prepare an injectable drug for human administration,” and the agency set the sellers’ “research use only” labels aside.20,19 None of the five letters mentions Selank. That is why this page has no how-to-take advice. This isn’t legal advice.
Where can you buy Selank?
Online sellers offer Selank as freeze-dried powder labeled “research use only” and as sprays.21 The Russian product is a ready-made solution with a 2-year shelf life. You store it at 2 to 8 °C, and an opened bottle lasts 15 days.2 A vial of research powder has no label like that, no approved form and no regulator behind it.
In 2020, Belgium’s public health lab Sciensano analyzed two suspicious preparations seized in 2017 and 2018 and found Selank and Semax in them.21
Our own check in September 2026 covered five Semax and Selank products from four US vendors. Two came with a certificate that proves identity by mass. One combination vial linked to a certificate for oxytocin. The details are on the Semax vs Selank page.
A purity number from HPLC tells you a powder is mostly one substance, not which one. To confirm identity, look for a mass spectrometry reading: Selank should come in at about 751.43 Da (C33H57N11O9). Our guide to verifying a peptide COA covers the other six checks, and the fake vendors list shows what failing them looks like.
What about sleep, ADHD, alcohol, drug tests and pregnancy?
| Topic | Grade | What exists |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | None | The Russian label lists sleep disturbance among the symptoms of anxiety states.2 PubMed lists no Selank sleep trial. |
| ADHD | None | No trial. The Russian label has no ADHD use. |
| Alcohol | Animal | Rat and mouse work only. In alcohol-drinking rats, one administration removed anxiety during withdrawal without changing how much they drank.22 In mice it prevented alcohol-induced hyperactivity.23 The label lists no established interaction with ethanol. That is a label sentence, not a study. |
| Drug tests | Label only | The label says no unchanged Selank or metabolites appear in 24-hour urine.2 PubMed lists no study of detecting it in people who use it. |
| Pregnancy and breastfeeding | Label onlyCell | The Russian label says not to use it, because no clinical studies were done.2 In a dish study, Selank at 100 µM cut the ratio of GABA neurons produced from mouse embryonic stem cells by 61%.24 That is a cell experiment, not a pregnancy study. |
Who should skip Selank?
It isn’t for you if:
- you’re under 18
- you’re pregnant or breastfeeding (the Russian label says not to use it in either case)
- you’re allergic to the drug or to its preservative, methylparaben
- you take a benzodiazepine or another sedative (the only combination data is one 70-patient trial run alongside phenazepam, and a prescriber should make that call)
- you’re a tested athlete (check your sport’s anti-doping rules before touching any research peptide)
What is known, what isn’t, and what would change that?
What is known
- Three small Russian clinical trials, 60 to 70 patients each, used a benzodiazepine arm and no placebo.
- Selank is a registered medicine in Russia. The FDA has not approved it.
- The FDA lists it as nominated and withdrawn, and says it lacks important safety information. It was not on the July 2026 advisory agenda.
- The mechanism work is mostly rats and cell lines, and the rat and cell results on GABA genes disagree.
What isn’t known
- Whether Selank beats a placebo in anxious patients.
- Its long-term safety, immune reactions and abuse potential.
- How the human body absorbs and clears it. No human study is listed.
- Whether research powder behaves like the Russian drops.
What would change the picture
- A blinded, placebo-controlled, preregistered trial.
- A replication from a group outside Russia.
- Human data on absorption, clearance and immune reactions.
- A new FDA nomination and a published safety review.
Selank FAQ
Does Selank work like a benzo?
Only two small trials compared it with a benzodiazepine. One reported similar anxiolytic effects to medazepam in 62 patients. The other, against phenazepam in 60 patients, gave no head-to-head result in its abstract. Neither had a placebo group, so neither can show Selank beats a sugar pill.
Is Selank FDA approved?
No. Selank is a registered medicine in Russia only. The FDA lists selank acetate (TP-7) among bulk substances nominated for compounding and then withdrawn, and says it lacks important information on safety in humans.
Is Selank legal in the US?
It has no FDA approval and pharmacies can’t compound it from the bulks list. Sellers who market it for human use risk the same enforcement as other peptide sellers. The FDA’s 24 August 2026 letters treated what sellers bundled and published on their sites as proof of intended human use. This isn’t legal advice.
Selank vs Semax: which has more evidence?
Neither has a placebo-controlled trial in patients. Selank’s clinical evidence is three small anxiety trials. Semax’s is mostly stroke and memory studies, and an FDA advisory committee voted 8-5-1 on 24 July 2026 to recommend adding it to the compounding list. Selank was not on that agenda.
How long does Selank last?
PubMed lists no human study of how Selank is absorbed or cleared. The 2014 trial reported that the anxiolytic effect lasted a week after treatment stopped. The Russian label says plasma levels fall within 5 to 5.5 minutes. Both claims come from Russian sources.
Selank nasal spray vs injection: which is it?
This page doesn’t cover how to take Selank by any route. The registered Russian product is a nasal solution. In mice, the two routes acted on different brain receptors, so results for one route don’t carry over to another.
Is Selank safe?
Nobody can say. There is no placebo-controlled safety data, no long-term study and no human study of absorption or clearance. The Russian label lists allergic reactions and an unpleasant taste. The FDA says it lacks important safety information. The label says not to use it in pregnancy, while breastfeeding, or under 18.
Does Selank help with sleep or ADHD?
No trial has tested it for either. The Russian label lists sleep disturbance among the symptoms of anxiety states and has no ADHD use.
Can you drink alcohol with Selank?
No human study exists. Rat and mouse studies tested Selank during alcohol withdrawal and alcohol-induced hyperactivity. The Russian label lists no established interaction with ethanol, which is a label statement and not a study.
Does Selank show up on a drug test?
The Russian label says no unchanged Selank or metabolites appear in 24-hour urine because tissue enzymes break it down quickly. PubMed lists no study of detecting it in people who use it.
Is Selank safe during pregnancy?
The Russian label says not to use it in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, because no clinical studies were done. No human pregnancy data exists.
Where can you buy Selank?
Russian pharmacies sell it without a prescription. The US has no approved product. Online sellers list it as a research chemical, a label the FDA has said doesn’t protect sellers, and certificate quality varies widely.
Is Selank approved in Russia?
Yes. Peptogen’s Selank 0.15% nasal drops carry Russian registration ЛП-010951, and the RLS label was last changed on 15 July 2025.
How the evidence is graded
- Small trial: patients were assigned to treatments and outcomes measured, with under about 100 people, one country and no placebo.
- Biomarker or imaging: a blood or scan measure in people, with no symptom outcome.
- Animal: rats or mice.
- Cell or lab: a dish or test tube.
- Label only: a statement from a manufacturer or the FDA, not a study.
- None: no study found in PubMed.
Keep reading
- Semax vs Selank: uses, evidence, side effects and COAs
- How to verify a peptide COA: 7 checks
- Fake peptide vendors list
- Are peptides safe for long-term use?
Changelog
25 October 2026: first published. Checked on that date: the FDA category page (current as of 22 April 2026), the 24 August 2026 FDA warning letter to NuScience Peptides, the RLS label (last changed 15 July 2025), the July 2026 advisory committee votes, and PubMed.
Sources
Show all 24 sources
- Vyunova TV, Andreeva L, Shevchenko K, Myasoedov N. Peptide-based anxiolytics: the molecular aspects of heptapeptide Selank biological activity. Protein Pept Lett. 2018. doi:10.2174/0929866525666180925144642 · PMID 30255741
- RLS (Russia). Selank 0.15% nasal drops, prescribing information, registration ЛП-№(010951)-(РГ-RU), last changed 15 July 2025. rlsnet.ru/drugs/selank-36612 (read 25 October 2026)
- US FDA. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks (table: bulk drug substances nominated but withdrawn). Content current as of 22 April 2026. fda.gov (read 25 October 2026)
- Zozulya AA, Neznamov GG, Siuniakov TS, et al. Efficacy and possible mechanisms of action of a new peptide anxiolytic selank in the therapy of generalized anxiety disorders and neurasthenia. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2008;108(4):38-48. PMID 18454096
- Medvedev VE, Tereshchenko ON, Israelian AIu, et al. A comparison of the anxiolytic effect and tolerability of selank and phenazepam in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2014;114(7):17-22. PMID 25176261
- Medvedev VE, Tereshchenko ON, Kost NV, et al. Optimization of the treatment of anxiety disorders with selank. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2015;115(6):33-40. doi:10.17116/jnevro20151156133-40 · PMID 26356395
- Uchakina ON, Uchakin PN, Miasoedov NF, et al. Immunomodulatory effects of selank in patients with anxiety-asthenic disorders. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2008;108(5):71-5. PMID 18577961
- Panikratova YR, Lebedeva IS, Sokolov OY, et al. Functional connectomic approach to studying Selank and Semax effects. Dokl Biol Sci. 2020;490(1):9-11. doi:10.1134/S001249662001007X · PMID 32342318
- ClinicalTrials.gov search, intervention “Selank”, 25 October 2026: no registered trial. clinicaltrials.gov
- Volkova A, Shadrina M, Kolomin T, et al. Selank administration affects the expression of some genes involved in GABAergic neurotransmission. Front Pharmacol. 2016;7:31. doi:10.3389/fphar.2016.00031 · PMID 26924987
- Filatova E, Kasian A, Kolomin T, et al. GABA, Selank, and olanzapine affect the expression of genes involved in GABAergic neurotransmission in IMR-32 cells. Front Pharmacol. 2017;8:89. doi:10.3389/fphar.2017.00089 · PMID 28293190
- Zozulya AA, Kost NV, Sokolov OY, et al. The inhibitory effect of Selank on enkephalin-degrading enzymes as a possible mechanism of its anxiolytic activity. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2001. doi:10.1023/a:1017979514274 · PMID 11550013
- Vasil’eva EV, Kondrakhin EA, Salimov RM, Kovalev GI. Comparison of pharmacological effects of heptapeptide selank after intranasal and intraperitoneal administration to BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 2016. PMID 29787664
- Kolik LG, Nadorova AV, Antipova TA, et al. Selank, peptide analogue of tuftsin, protects against ethanol-induced memory impairment by regulating of BDNF content in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2019. doi:10.1007/s10517-019-04588-9 · PMID 31625062
- Seredenin SB, Semenova TP, Kozlovskaia MM, et al. The characteristics of the anxiolytic action of taftsin and its analog TP-7 on behavior and serotonin metabolism in the brain of rats with chronic deprivation of serotoninergic system activity. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1995;58(6):3-6. PMID 8704608
- Doyno CR, White CM. Sedative-hypnotic agents that impact gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors: focus on flunitrazepam, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, phenibut, and Selank. J Clin Pharmacol. 2021. doi:10.1002/jcph.1922 · PMID 34396551
- Healio. FDA committee recommends looser restrictions for several peptides. 15 September 2026 (Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, 23-24 July 2026, Semax vote 8-5-1). healio.com
- Rogozinskaya EY, Lyapina MG. Anticoagulant effects of arginine-containing peptides of the glyproline family revealed by thromboelastography. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2017. doi:10.1007/s10517-017-3950-4 · PMID 29181670
- AFS Law. RUO-ined: five peptide vendors learn that “research use only” is not a legal strategy (summary of the 24 August 2026 FDA warning letters). afslaw.com
- US FDA. Warning letter to NuScience Peptides LLC, reference 733652, 24 August 2026. fda.gov
- Vanhee C, Francotte A, Janvier S, Deconinck E. The occurrence of putative cognitive enhancing research peptides in seized pharmaceutical preparations. Drug Test Anal. 2020;12(3):371-381. doi:10.1002/dta.2717 · PMID 31667971
- Kolik LG, Nadorova AV, Kozlovskaya MM. Efficacy of peptide anxiolytic selank during modeling of withdrawal syndrome in rats with stable alcoholic motivation. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2014. doi:10.1007/s10517-014-2490-4 · PMID 24913576
- Kolik LG, Nadorova AV, Seredenin SB. Selank inhibits ethanol-induced hyperlocomotion and manifestation of behavioral sensitization in DBA/2 mice. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2016. doi:10.1007/s10517-016-3544-6 · PMID 27878720
- Kobylyanskii AG, Zolotarev YA, Andreeva LA, et al. Studying the toxic effects of some biologically active peptides on the model of mouse embryonic stem cells. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2017. doi:10.1007/s10517-017-3891-y · PMID 29063333