How does semax work?
Semax is a lab-made copy of a piece of the hormone ACTH (building blocks 4 to 10). This site's profile says it raises BDNF and NGF, two proteins that help brain cells grow, and acts on the brain's melanocortin and dopamine systems. The body clears it quickly, in minutes, and it is used as a nose spray. Its molecular weight is 813.9 daltons. The one study in people on that page is a Russian 110-person series of stroke patients, where everyone knew what they were getting. Semax courses raised BDNF in the blood and went along with faster recovery on a daily-living score (the Barthel index). There was no dummy-treatment group to compare against. It is approved in Russia and Ukraine and not FDA approved. In July 2026 the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted to recommend it for compounding, against the advice of FDA scientists. The vote is advice only. In rats, one dose of 50 micrograms per kilogram raised BDNF in the brain's memory center by 1.4-fold. Those animal findings do not transfer into a counted Western cognitive trial. This FAQ does not invent a dose. Full record at /compounds/semax.
Studies in people from the compound pages this answer belongs to
- Semax
- The efficacy of semax in the treatment of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke 2018 PMID 29798983
- [Effectiveness of semax in acute period of hemispheric ischemic stroke (a clinical and electrophysiological study)] 1997 PMID 11517472
- [Semax in prevention of disease progress and development of exacerbations in patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency] 2005 PMID 15792140
Educational use only. This database summarizes published research and is not medical advice. Where a dose appears it is a record of what a trial or clinic ran, or what people describe doing, with its source attached. Nothing here is a recommendation for personal use.
Part of cognitive and mood peptides. Selank, semax, cerebrolysin, and other nootropic and CNS peptides.