Read This First
This page is not built on clinical evidence. It is built on the regulatory record and peptide chemistry, and on the FDA's July 2026 review of semax, which describes the market selank shares. What selank does, according to Russian trials, is covered on the library entry; this page is about what is sold under its name outside Russia.
Selank is a registered Russian nasal drop that has never been reviewed by any other regulator and has never been before the FDA's advisory committee. Outside Russia it is sold as imported drops, as vendor-made nasal sprays, as injectable powder for a route no study has used, and most often as one half of a semax-and-selank pair.1
Legal Status
Where Does Selank Stand?
Registered in Russia as 0.15 percent nasal drops for anxiety. Approved nowhere else. In the United States, selank acetate was placed in Category 2 of the FDA's interim compounding policy in September 2023, with the entry that the agency "lacks important information regarding any safety issues raised by selank acetate administered to humans," and is now listed among substances nominated but withdrawn.2
It was not among the seven peptides the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee considered in July 2026.3 No pharmacy in the United States has a lawful basis on which to compound it, and unlike semax there is not even a pending recommendation to wait for.
What About the Semax/Selank Pair?
The FDA's review of semax records that semax is sold "in combination with a different peptide, selank," by wellness clinics, concierge practices, functional medicine clinics and online retailers.1 A combination product's legal position is that of its least-permitted component. Semax has a recommendation the FDA has not adopted; selank has nothing. The pair is therefore no more lawful to compound than selank alone, which is not at all.
Product Identity
Three Products Under One Name
| What is sold | What it is | What is known about it |
|---|---|---|
| Russian-market nasal drops, imported | A registered finished product, if genuine | Made to a Russian standard for nasal use; outside its lawful market once exported; genuineness unverifiable by the buyer |
| Compounded or vendor nasal spray | Selank powder dissolved into a spray device | No information on device qualification; the FDA found none for semax and the same applies here1 |
| Lyophilised powder for injection | Selank for a route no human study has used | No pharmacokinetic, toxicity or safety data by injection |
Why the Device Matters
Selank's registered route is nasal, and the nasal route is the whole delivery argument for these Moscow peptides: in animal work with semax, far more of an intranasal dose reached the brain than an intravenous one.1 The FDA's central concern about a compounded nasal spray was not the peptide but the container, closure and pump, whose "pump delivery, spray content uniformity, spray pattern and plume geometry, and droplet size distribution" determine whether a dose arrives.1 A vendor decanting selank into a generic bottle has not reproduced the Russian product.
What Makes This Peptide Hard to Verify?
Less than most. Seven natural amino acids, no cysteine, no methionine; identity is straightforward and the sequence is hard to get wrong. What separates a research powder from a nasal or injectable product is sterility, endotoxin and, for a spray, a validated preservative system and device. None of those appears on a typical certificate.
Purity Testing Versus Identity Testing
| Test | Question it answers | Question it cannot answer |
|---|---|---|
| HPLC purity | What proportion of the sample is one substance | Whether it is sterile or pyrogen-free |
| Mass spectrometry identity | Whether the mass matches selank, about 751 daltons | How much of the sample it represents |
| Endotoxin and bioburden | Whether the product is safe to spray or inject | Identity; rarely reported |
| Spray performance | Whether a nasal product delivers a consistent dose | Never on a certificate |
Certificates of Analysis
What a Certificate Is
A laboratory report on one batch. Read it for the laboratory's independence from the seller, the lot number and whether it matches the vial, the date, the substance named including free base or acetate, and which tests were run. For a blend with semax, each component must be reported separately or the certificate describes nothing.
What It Cannot Establish
That the vial in hand came from the batch tested. Its value rests on a chain of custody the buyer cannot inspect. A certificate is a PDF, and nothing about the format prevents reuse or fabrication; the FDA has documented fabricated labels on gray-market peptide products.4 For imported Russian drops there is no certificate; there is a box and a retailer.
"Research Use Only"
Does the Label Change Anything?
No. It is a liability position adopted by the seller, not a regulatory category. The FDA has held in warning letters that the disclaimer does not survive product copy establishing human use.5 A product sold as "calm without sedation" with a nasal dosing schedule is not a research reagent.
Storage and Handling
What Is Known
For the Russian product, the Russian label governs and ONPEPS has not verified it. For powder and compounded sprays, no validated data exist. Selank has no residues especially prone to oxidation, and as a dry powder it is likely robust; reconstituted solutions follow the ordinary rules. A nasal spray bottle is a multi-dose aqueous product opened daily for weeks, and without a preservative system and in-use period it is a culture vessel; the FDA's general guidance for compounded multi-dose products is to discard within 28 days of first use.4
Signs to Stop Rather Than Proceed
Nasal irritation, bleeding or crusting that persists, or any eye symptoms, given the injury reported with the related semax drops1
Unusual bruising or bleeding, given the anticoagulant effects reported for this peptide family, especially in anyone on anticoagulants or antiplatelet drugs6
Any sense of needing the product to feel normal, which a compound acting on enkephalin degradation and GABA gene expression has never been tested for
A solution that has discoloured or developed particles
Injectable product with no sterility or endotoxin result, for a route no study has used
Community Language
Selank, TP-7
Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. A registered Russian nasal drug; the subject of this page.
NA-Selank, N-acetyl selank, NA-Selank amidate
Vendor derivatives with an acetyl group, an amide, or both. Different molecules from the registered product, with no human data of their own.
Semax/Selank, "focus and calm" stack
Two peptides from the same institute sold together. Untested as a combination; one has a pending recommendation, the other has never been reviewed.
Tuftsin
The natural immune tetrapeptide selank is built on. Not the same molecule.
Category 2
The FDA's interim classification for nominated compounding substances that may present significant safety risks. Selank acetate was placed there in 2023 and is now listed as nominated but withdrawn.2
Certificate of analysis
A laboratory report on one batch. It describes the batch tested, not necessarily the vial received, and never the spray device.
Related ONPEPS Coverage
Selank library entry: the mechanism, the Russian trials and the regulatory gap
Selank cost and access: a Russian registration and nothing else
Semax sourcing and quality: a Russian drug, a nasal spray and a vial
FDA peptide news July 2026: the votes, the dissent and what happens next
Sources
US Food and Drug Administration. Semax-related bulk drug substances: FDA presentation to the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, 24 July 2026. Docket FDA-2025-N-6895. Cited for the semax/selank market, the nasal device findings and the 2025 adverse event report. fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration. Category 2 of the Bulk Substances Nominated Under Sections 503A or 503B of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Entry for selank acetate (TP-7). Content current as of 22 April 2026. fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration. July 23-24, 2026: Meeting of the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee. Docket FDA-2025-N-6895. fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration. FDA's Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight Loss. Drug Alerts and Statements. Cited for the agency's general guidance on multi-dose products and fabricated labels. fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration. Warning Letter: Gram Peptides. MARCS-CMS 721806, 31 March 2026. fda.gov
Liapina LA, Pastorova VE, Obergan TIu, Samonina GE, Ashmarin IP, Miasoedov NF. Comparison of anticoagulant effects of regulatory proline-containing oligopeptides: specificity of glyprolines, semax, and selank and potential of their practical application. Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol. 2006;(2):193-203. In Russian; English abstract. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16634437
Not Medical Advice
Selank is a registered medicine in Russia and an unapproved substance everywhere else. If you are using a product obtained outside a pharmacy, the route back to oversight is a clinician who knows what you have taken.
Regulatory sources verified 16 September 2026. The compounding record changes frequently. Re-verify before relying on any statement here.