Selank
TP-7, Semax's anxiolytic sibling
A tuftsin analogue registered in Russia as an anxiolytic, with trial data comparing it favourably to a benzodiazepine and no Western replication whatsoever.
Human trials
Registered for clinical use in Russia and Ukraine for anxiety disorders. Not approved in the United States or Europe, and never submitted for approval in either.
What it is
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide built from tuftsin, an endogenous immunomodulatory tetrapeptide, with a stabilising extension added so it survives long enough to act. It came out of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the same programme that produced semax.
It is registered in Russia as an anxiolytic, and that is the use it was designed and tested for.
What the evidence shows
More than most compounds in this category. Russian trials have enrolled several hundred patients with generalised anxiety disorder, including double-blind placebo-controlled work.
The most cited comparison put selank against medazepam, a benzodiazepine. Selank produced comparable anxiolytic effect while also showing antiasthenic and mildly stimulating properties, rather than the sedation and cognitive dulling benzodiazepines are known for. A placebo-controlled trial in generalised anxiety reported a substantially larger reduction in Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores than placebo over two weeks.
If that reproduced, a non-sedating anxiolytic without dependence liability would be a genuinely valuable drug.
The geography problem, again
It has not reproduced, because nobody outside that research tradition has tried.
There are no large multicentre Western trials, no pre-registered endpoints, no independent replication. The published work is predominantly Russian, in Russian-language journals, from a small number of connected groups, at sample sizes that would be considered preliminary elsewhere.
This is the same situation as semax and it deserves the same reading: the evidence is real and it is not independent. A drug registered under a different regulatory system has cleared a different bar, not no bar and not the FDA's.
Practical notes
- The mechanism is not benzodiazepine-like. Selank does not bind GABA-A directly. Reported activity involves GABAergic and serotonergic modulation, BDNF expression and enkephalin metabolism. That is why the trials found no sedation and no withdrawal pattern.
- Intranasal is the studied route. The absorption question that dogs oxytocin applies here too, and it has not been resolved for this peptide either.
- Anxiety is a diagnosable, treatable condition with better-evidenced treatments. Reaching for an unapproved Russian peptide before anything with Western trial support is a strange ordering of options.
Side effects and warning signs
Commonly reported
- Nasal irritation, the most common complaint with this route
- Drowsiness in some users, though trials reported an antiasthenic rather than sedating effect
- Headache
- No systematic Western safety dataset exists
Stop and get medical help
- Any use in place of assessment for an anxiety disorder, which is treatable and benefits from diagnosis
- Combination with prescribed psychiatric medication, since the interaction profile has never been studied outside Russia
Sources
From the community
Discussion for this compound concentrates in r/Nootropics and r/Peptides.
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