What is semax used for?
Semax, a lab-made piece of the hormone ACTH, is approved in Russia and Ukraine for stroke and thinking problems. It is also studied for protecting nerve cells through BDNF (a protein that helps brain cells grow), for focus, and for a mild boost to thinking. It is not FDA approved. In July 2026 a US advisory panel voted to recommend it for use by compounding pharmacies, but that vote is advice only and the FDA has not finished its rules.
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.