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Selank

Selank is a synthetic peptide of seven amino acids, developed in Russia. It is built from tuftsin, a short fragment of an antibody protein, with three amino acids added to make it last longer in the body. Most of what is known about it comes from small Russian studies.

Not approved · research onlyChecked October 2026
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Approval status

Not approved by the FDA or EMA. A US pharmacology review calls it a poorly studied Russian drug sold to US consumers as a supplement. The FDA says it lacks important information on its safety in people. Most clinical evidence comes from small Russian studies.43

What it’s used or studied for

  • Human studies

    Small Russian trials in anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder and neurasthenia, reported anti-anxiety effects; one found them similar to the benzodiazepine medazepam.56

  • Human studies

    A Russian trial added it to the benzodiazepine phenazepam and reported fewer of phenazepam's side effects, such as sedation and memory problems.7

  • Animal & lab only

    Reduced signs of alcohol withdrawal and morphine withdrawal in rats.89

  • Animal & lab only

    Prevented alcohol-related memory problems in rats.10

Each label shows how strong the evidence is: an approved use, human studies, animal or lab studies only, or a popular claim with no published studies. Being studied is not the same as being proven safe or effective.

Side effects

The published trials are small and mostly in Russian, with few safety details in English. The FDA says it lacks important information on the safety of selank in people.356

Cautions

  • Lab and rat studies show selank can change how benzodiazepines such as diazepam act.211
  • The FDA has raised concerns about impurities and immune reactions with selank made for compounding.3
  • Outside Russia it is sold as an unregulated 'research' peptide. A Belgian medicines lab found it in seized, unlabeled products.12

Sources

  1. PubChem: Selank (CID 11765600)
  2. Kasian A et al. Peptide Selank enhances the effect of diazepam in reducing anxiety in rats. Behav Neurol 2017
  3. FDA: Bulk drug substances used in compounding that may present significant safety risks
  4. Doyno CR, White CM. Sedative-hypnotic agents that impact GABA receptors: flunitrazepam, GHB, phenibut and selank. J Clin Pharmacol 2021 (review)
  5. Zozulia AA et al. Selank in generalized anxiety disorder and neurasthenia, compared with medazepam. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr 2008 (in Russian)
  6. Medvedev VE et al. Anxiolytic effect and tolerability of selank and phenazepam in anxiety disorders. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr 2014 (in Russian)
  7. Medvedev VE et al. Optimization of the treatment of anxiety disorders with selank. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr 2015 (in Russian)
  8. Kolik LG et al. Selank in a rat model of alcohol withdrawal. Bull Exp Biol Med 2014
  9. Konstantinopolsky MA et al. Selank attenuates aversive signs of morphine withdrawal in rats. Bull Exp Biol Med 2022
  10. Kolik LG et al. Selank protects against ethanol-induced memory impairment in rats. Bull Exp Biol Med 2019
  11. Vyunova TV et al. Peptide-based anxiolytics: molecular aspects of Selank activity. Protein Pept Lett 2018
  12. Vanhee C et al. Cognitive-enhancing research peptides in seized pharmaceutical preparations. Drug Test Anal 2020

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