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Research profile · Peptide

Selank

Also known as TP-7, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro

Early human — evidence level 3 of 4: Early human evidenceExperimental — UK regulatory status: Experimental — not authorised for human use in the UK

Overview

A synthetic heptapeptide derived from the immunomodulatory tetrapeptide tuftsin, studied chiefly in Russian anxiety research.

Category
Peptide
Highest evidence level identified
Early human evidence
Last scientifically reviewed
20 August 2026
Last regulatory review
20 August 2026

Mechanism under investigation

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide built from the immunomodulatory tetrapeptide tuftsin extended with a tripeptide to improve metabolic stability. Proposed mechanisms include inhibition of enkephalin-degrading enzymes, modulation of GABAergic and monoaminergic gene expression, and effects on neurotrophin concentrations in rodent brain regions. No single pathway has been established as the basis of its reported clinical effects.

Research areas

  • Anxiety models
  • GABAergic signalling

These are fields in which the compound has been investigated. Listing a field is not a statement that anything was demonstrated within it.

Current evidence

In-vitro evidence

Cells, tissues or biochemical systems outside a living organism.

Modest but real. Work in a neuroblastoma cell line reports that the peptide alters expression of genes involved in GABAergic neurotransmission, and radioligand-binding studies have been used to probe candidate targets. This tier is small relative to the clinical claims made for the compound.

Animal evidence

Studies in living non-human animals.

Rodent studies report anxiolytic and cognitive effects without the sedation or motor impairment characteristic of benzodiazepines, and effects on neurotrophin content in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The body of work is consistent but modest in size and heavily concentrated in a small number of institutes.

Human observational evidence

Studies observing people without assigning an intervention.

Limited. The main human biological observation — reduced enkephalin stability correlating with illness duration and symptom severity — was reported within a treatment trial rather than as an independent observational programme.

Clinical-trial evidence

Studies assigning an intervention to human participants.

Only three genuine trials are indexed. All three are Russian-language, all appear in the same journal, and all involve overlapping author groups. They compare the peptide against benzodiazepines rather than against placebo. ClinicalTrials.gov returns no registered studies. Note also that database searches for this compound map onto a supplementary concept and return substantial false positives, so naive counts overstate the literature considerably.

Study limitations

  • Three trials, one journal, overlapping authors. The entire clinical case rests on small Russian-language studies with shared investigators; this is not an independently replicated evidence base.
  • The studies use active comparators rather than placebo, so apparent equivalence cannot distinguish genuine anxiolysis from absence of effect in a condition with a high placebo response.
  • Database indexing collisions inflate the apparent literature. The true corpus is far smaller than raw search-hit counts suggest.
  • No trial registration exists, and no study has been conducted or replicated outside Russia in nearly two decades.

UK regulatory context

Experimental — not authorised for human use in the UK

A compound appearing in research literature that holds no UK authorisation for human use in any indication.

Source: The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 46 — prohibition on sale or supply of an unauthorised medicinal product (opens legislation.gov.uk in a new tab) (legislation.gov.uk)

Regulatory classification is jurisdiction-specific. A compound authorised elsewhere is not thereby authorised in the UK, and a supplier’s description of a substance does not determine how it is classified in law. See safety and regulation for the framework and the authoritative sources.

Safety and interpretation

Reported tolerability in the Russian trials is described as favourable, with claims of fewer adverse effects than comparator benzodiazepines. These reports come from small, short studies without registry-grade safety monitoring or long-term follow-up. No regulator outside Russia has evaluated the compound, and reported Russian registration could not be verified against an official source.

References