Selank
A synthetic peptide approved as a medicine in Russia; not FDA-approved in the United States.
What it is
Selank is a synthetic peptide developed in Russia, derived from an immune-related fragment called tuftsin, and studied there for anxiety-related indications. It holds regulatory status as a medicine in Russia but not in the United States or Europe.
The published human research comes largely from the originating Russian institutions — small studies without the independent replication Western approval would require. In the US it circulates as a nasal-spray gray-market product.
What researchers have actually studied it for
Anxiety-related indications in Russian clinical studies; approved as a medicine in Russia, unapproved and unreviewed by FDA.
How it works
A tuftsin analog with a stabilizing tail, proposed to modulate GABA signaling, influence brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and adjust monoamine turnover — an anxiolytic profile without sedation, per the originating literature. Mechanistic work is largely from Russian institutes and animal models.
Where it came from
Developed at Moscow's Institute of Molecular Genetics from tuftsin — an immune peptide discovered in the 1970s — Selank won Russian registration as an anxiolytic in 2009. It is a flagship of Russia's distinct regulatory peptide tradition, which the Western nootropics community mail-orders around.
What the research record actually contains
- Russian clinical studies in anxiety disorders reporting benefit without sedation or dependence.
- Animal mechanistic literature on GABA and BDNF pathways.
- No independent Western randomized trials; no FDA review of any kind.
What's known about risks
Russian literature reports good tolerability in small studies. No independent large-scale safety characterization exists, and imported spray products carry the usual unregulated-sourcing unknowns.
Where it stands legally
A registered medicine in Russia; in the US neither approved nor lawfully sold as a supplement — a personal-import gray zone.
Worth asking a licensed provider
- 1.For my anxiety picture, what evidence-based options — therapy and approved medications — haven't we tried?
- 2.How would we evaluate a compound whose entire evidence base can't be independently verified?
- 3.What are the risks of self-treating anxiety outside any monitoring?