Semax

01 / Dosing schedule

Cited dosing

Semax has real published human dosing, but only from Russian-language clinical trials in acute ischaemic stroke; it has never been through an FDA or EMA programme. Reported regimens are 12 mg/day and 18 mg/day of the intranasal 1% solution during the first 5-14 days after stroke.

Semax in acute ischaemic stroke — Russian trial regimens (intranasal 1% solution)

Phase	Dose & frequency
Moderate-severity stroke (Gusev 1997)	12 mg daily for 5 days
Severe stroke (Gusev 1997)	18 mg daily for 10 days
Meta-analysis inclusion regimen	Semax 1% intranasally, 12-18 mg/day during the first 10-14 days
Tsukurova 2013 (in meta-analysis)	12 mg/day for 10 days
Stakhovskaya 2011 (in meta-analysis)	18 mg/day for 10 days
Lower-dose regimen listed	3 mg/day — 5 drops into each nostril every 2 hours, 6 times daily, for 10 days

Source · Gusev EI, Skvortsova VI, Miasoedov NF, et al. Effectiveness of semax in acute period of hemispheric ischemic stroke (a clinical and electrophysiological study). Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 1997;97(6):26-34. ↗

Source indication · Acute period of hemispheric ischaemic stroke (Russian clinical trials and a Russian meta-analysis of them)

Injection frequency: Once-daily total dose divided across repeated intranasal instillations; courses of 5, 10, 14 or 21 days depending on the trial.
Injection sites: Not an injection: dosing is intranasal, instilled as drops into each nasal passage (the meta-analysis records 5 drops per nostril, 6 times daily, for the 3 mg/day regimen).

02 / Reconstitution

Reconstitution reference

Trials used a ready-made Semax 1% intranasal solution (a registered Russian product), not a reconstituted lyophilised vial. No reconstitution procedure appears in the cited trials.

Vialn.a. — trials used pre-made 1% intranasal solution

BAC watern.a.

Concentration1% (10 mg/mL) intranasal solution as used in trials

Example dose12 mg/day (moderate stroke regimen)

On a U‑100 syringe1.2 mL/day of 1% solution split across nasal instillations

Open the reconstitution calculator →

03 / Overview

Protocol overview

Semax is a synthetic heptapeptide analogue of ACTH(4-10) with the ACTH-like corticotropic activity removed. It is registered and used clinically in Russia; it has no US or EU marketing authorisation and no FDA-reviewed dose.

The anchor human study is Gusev and colleagues' 1997 clinical and electrophysiological trial in the acute period of hemispheric ischaemic stroke: 30 Semax-treated patients versus 80 conventionally treated controls, dosed 12 mg daily for 5 days in moderate strokes and 18 mg daily for 10 days in severe strokes.

A 2024 Russian meta-analysis of Semax in acute stroke pooled trials whose inclusion criterion was Semax 1% intranasally at 12-18 mg/day during the first 10-14 days, and tabulates the individual regimens used, including 6 mg/day for 5 days, 12 mg/day for 5, 10, 14 or 21 days, and 18 mg/day for 5 or 10 days.

No human pharmacokinetic half-life for Semax was found in any source fetched for this page, so half-life is reported as n.a. The cognition and 'nootropic' claims attached to Semax online rest largely on animal work and on these stroke and neurology trials, not on dedicated cognitive-enhancement RCTs in healthy people.

04 / References