Selank

Origin and structure

Selank is a synthetic peptide of seven amino acids, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, also known as TP-7. Its first four amino acids form tuftsin, a short fragment of the heavy chain of human immunoglobulin G, the most common antibody in the blood. The developers added Pro-Gly-Pro to the end to make the molecule more resistant to breakdown and to lengthen its action. Selank was designed at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, together with the V.V. Zakusov Research Institute of Pharmacology.

The medicine is Selank 0.15% nasal drops: a clear solution with 1.5 mg selank (as the diacetate salt) per ml, in 3 ml bottles, made by Peptogen in Moscow. It was registered in Russia in 2009, under registration number ЛСР-003338/09, and is sold there without a prescription. According to the Russian label it is absorbed through the lining of the nose and appears in the blood within 30 seconds, with an absolute bioavailability of 92.8%, and its plasma concentration falls over 5 to 5.5 minutes because enzymes in the tissues break it down quickly. The label does not say whether these figures were measured in people or in animals.

How it is thought to work

The Russian label describes selank as an anti-anxiety drug (ATC group N05BX) with an 'original' mechanism of action on the central nervous system, without naming a target. The research behind it, almost all of it from the developers' institutes in Moscow, points in several directions at once:

• Enkephalins: in the 2008 trial, leu-enkephalin, one of the body's own opioid peptides, had a shortened half-life in the blood of patients with generalised anxiety disorder or neurasthenia, and the half-life lengthened during treatment with selank, mostly in those with generalised anxiety. The authors put forward this slower breakdown of enkephalins as a possible mechanism.
• GABA: in animal brain tissue selank changed how GABA binds to its receptors, the receptor system that benzodiazepines also act on. An hour after a nasal dose in rats, 29 of the 77 nerve-signalling genes analysed in the frontal cortex had changed activity, 25 of them genes that also responded to a dose of GABA itself; they included genes for GABA, dopamine and serotonin receptors.
• BDNF: in rats a nasal dose changed the activity of the gene for BDNF, a growth factor for nerve cells, in the hippocampus. Rat work like this is the basis for the BDNF claims made for selank.
• Immune system: in one study by the same group, the balance of cytokines (immune messengers) in the blood shifted in patients treated with selank for 14 days, and in blood cells in a dish selank altered the activity of the cytokine IL-6. The abstract gives no patient numbers.
• None of these mechanisms has been confirmed by an independent group, and how they would add up to an effect on anxiety in people is not known.

Is Selank approved?

In Russia, yes. No medicine containing selank is authorised by the EMA, in the Netherlands or anywhere else in the EU, and the FDA has not approved it.

Research-grade selank, the freeze-dried peptide sold for laboratory use, is not the Russian medicine. It has no marketing authorisation anywhere and may not be used in people.

• Russia: registered in 2009 as Selank 0.15% nasal drops, in the anxiolytic group, and sold without a prescription. The label lists anxiety states (unexplained anxiety and worry, panic attacks, neurasthenia, asthenia, mood swings, sleep problems, indecision and lack of self-confidence, adjustment disorders) and the prevention and treatment of stress disorders, in adults.
• EU and the Netherlands: the EMA's database of medicines authorised in the European Economic Area (data of 9 October 2026) contains no product with selank, so it may not be sold, advertised or supplied for human use here.
• US: not approved. Selank acetate (TP-7) was nominated for pharmacy compounding and placed in the FDA's category 2, the group of substances that may pose significant safety risks, until the nomination was withdrawn. The FDA now lists it among nominations withdrawn by the nominators, still noting a possible risk of immune reactions from clumped peptide or impurities and that it lacks important information on safety in people.

What the research shows

Most published work on selank is in rats and mice. The studies in people all come from Moscow, with a scientist from the developing institute among the authors; four of the five appeared in a Russian-language journal with only an English abstract, and none has been repeated by an independent group. None of the patient trials used a placebo, and no selank trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Claims about memory, focus and BDNF rest on rodent and cell studies; no human trial has made them its main outcome. The studies in people indexed in PubMed:

• Zozulya et al. 2008: 62 patients with generalised anxiety disorder or neurasthenia, indexed as a randomised trial, received selank (30) or the benzodiazepine medazepam (32). On the Hamilton, Zung and CGI scales the anti-anxiety effect of the two was similar; selank also reduced fatigue and weakness (asthenia) and had a stimulating effect. The English abstract gives no effect sizes and does not say whether the trial was blinded.
• Uchakina et al. 2008: in patients with generalised anxiety disorder or neurasthenia who received selank for 14 days, the balance between Th1 and Th2 cytokines in the blood shifted; in blood cells in a dish, selank suppressed expression of the IL-6 gene in cells from patients with depression but not from healthy people, while IL-6 levels in the patients' cell cultures rose. The abstract gives no patient numbers and no clinical outcome.
• Medvedev et al. 2014: 60 patients with anxiety-phobic and somatoform disorders; selank was compared with the benzodiazepine phenazepam. The abstract reports a marked anti-anxiety effect that lasted a week after the last dose and a mild effect on thinking, but gives no figures for the comparison with phenazepam.
• Medvedev et al. 2015: 70 patients with anxiety disorders, indexed as a randomised trial, received phenazepam alone (30) or phenazepam plus selank (40). With selank added, the improvement on the Hamilton scale (HDRS) came sooner, and phenazepam's side effects (poorer attention and memory, fatigue, sedation, longer sleep, sexual problems, emotional blunting and dizziness on standing up) were less pronounced, both during treatment and after phenazepam was stopped.
• Panikratova et al. 2020: 52 healthy volunteers had brain scans before and 5 and 20 minutes after a single dose of selank, semax or placebo. Both peptides changed the resting connectivity between the right amygdala, a region involved in fear and anxiety, and parts of the right temporal lobe. The study measured brain signals, not anxiety.

Side effects and safety

The Russian label lists only two side effects, without frequencies: an unpleasant taste when the drops run from the nose into the throat, in people who are sensitive to smell and taste, and allergic reactions in people who do not tolerate it. It rules out use in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and under the age of 18, because selank has not been studied in those groups, and states that no overdose has been reported.

The label also states that selank causes no dependence or habituation, does not affect driving, and does not change the effects of haloperidol, pentobarbital or hexobarbital. These statements come from the manufacturer. The published trials are small and short, their English abstracts give no side-effect rates, and they do not report on dependence or withdrawal from selank itself.

In the US, the FDA notes a possible risk of immune reactions to compounded selank caused by clumped peptide or impurities, and states that it lacks important information on its safety in people. There are no long-term human safety data.

Selank versus semax

Semax (Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro) was also made at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow and is also registered in Russia, but as a nootropic drug that is used for ischaemic stroke, not as an anti-anxiety drug. Both peptides are seven amino acids long and end in the same stabilising Pro-Gly-Pro tail; selank is built on tuftsin, semax on a fragment of the pituitary hormone ACTH.

They are different molecules and have never been compared head to head in patients. The only study that gave both to people, the 2020 brain-scan study in healthy volunteers, found partly shared and partly different effects on the connectivity of the right amygdala. Neither is authorised in the EU or the US, both appear on the FDA's list of withdrawn compounding nominations, and neither is named on the WADA list.

Frequently asked questions

Is Selank an approved medicine?

In Russia, yes: Selank 0.15% nasal drops have been registered there since 2009 for anxiety states and stress disorders in adults and are sold without a prescription. No medicine containing selank is authorised in the EU, the Netherlands included, and the FDA has not approved it in the US.

Is Selank legal in the Netherlands?

Selank is not a registered medicine in the Netherlands or anywhere else in the EU, so it may not be sold, advertised or supplied for human use. Its registration in Russia does not change that, and the Russian nasal drops have no Dutch authorisation. Buying and selling it as research material is a different status, which our guide on research-use-only products in the Netherlands explains.

Is Selank banned in sport?

Selank is not named on WADA's Prohibited List for 2026, nor on the 2027 list that applies from 1 January 2027. The catch-all class S0 covers only substances that no government health authority anywhere has approved for human therapeutic use, and from 2027 its text names peptides among the examples. Selank is a registered medicine in Russia, which on that wording places it outside S0, but the list gives no ruling on selank by name, and from 2027 it warns that a peptide not named on it may still be prohibited.

Is Selank addictive like a benzodiazepine?

Selank is not a benzodiazepine but a short peptide. Rat studies suggest it acts partly on the same GABA receptor system, and in one Russian trial its anti-anxiety effect was similar to that of the benzodiazepine medazepam. The Russian label states that it causes no dependence or habituation, but that statement comes from the manufacturer; the published trials were small and short, and their abstracts do not report on dependence or withdrawal.

What is the difference between Selank and Semax?

Both are seven-amino-acid peptides from the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow, both end in Pro-Gly-Pro, and both are registered as medicines in Russia but not in the EU or the US. Selank is built on tuftsin and registered as an anti-anxiety drug; semax is built on a fragment of the pituitary hormone ACTH and registered as a nootropic, used for ischaemic stroke. They have never been compared head to head in patients.

Storage and handling

Store according to product-label instructions and batch handling notes. Lyophilized research peptides are commonly kept dry, protected from light, and handled with clean laboratory technique.

References

Checked against these sources on 28 October 2026.

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