Cognitive Support

The first FDA-approved treatment for Rett syndrome, a synthetic analogue of a naturally occurring IGF-1 tripeptide fragment.

A family of endogenous opioid peptides derived from the prodynorphin (PDYN) gene that are selective agonists at the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR), best known as the dysphoric, aversive, stress-induced counterpart to the euphoric mu-receptor-preferring beta-endorphin system, and the target of the KOR-antagonist antidepressant programs — aticaprant and navacaprant — both of which failed Phase 3 trials for major depression and were discontinued in 2025 and 2026.

A porcine brain-derived peptide preparation with neurotrophic properties, approved in several countries for stroke recovery and cognitive disorders.

A short-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist originally approved for type 2 diabetes, now studied for slowing motor decline in early Parkinson's disease.

The smallest hypothalamic releasing hormone — a tripeptide that drives TSH and prolactin secretion and was the first hypothalamic factor to be isolated and sequenced, earning Guillemin and Schally the 1977 Nobel Prize.

A naturally occurring neuropeptide with anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and immune-modulating properties. Early clinical data exists for pulmonary hypertension; other therapeutic uses remain under investigation.

A naturally occurring dipeptide concentrated in muscle and brain tissue, studied for anti-aging, cognitive support, and exercise performance.

An endogenous 20-amino-acid neuropeptide named for its highly conserved N-terminal serine residue, discovered by Xu, Reinscheid, and Civelli at UC Irvine in 2004 by reverse-pharmacology deorphanization of GPR154 (now NPSR1) — pharmacologically distinctive for producing simultaneous wakefulness/arousal AND anxiolytic effects, a combination that classical anxiolytics do not deliver, and the molecular substrate for the natural-short-sleeper NPSR1 mutation identified in human pedigrees.

A synthetic peptide analog of ACTH(4-10) developed in Russia, studied for cognitive enhancement and neuroprotection.

A synthetic peptide analog of tuftsin with anxiolytic and nootropic properties, developed in Russia.

The longevity protein discovered in 1997 as a mouse-aging-syndrome gene, now the subject of rigorous cognitive-aging research (the KL-VS variant confers real cognitive protection) and a grey-market 'Klotho peptide' industry that oversells early-stage academic work.

A mitochondria-derived peptide with cytoprotective properties, studied for neuroprotection, metabolic regulation, and anti-aging effects.

Orexin-A (hypocretin-1) is a 33-amino-acid neuropeptide made by neurons in the lateral hypothalamus that promotes wakefulness; loss of these neurons causes narcolepsy type 1. Orexin-A itself is not an approved drug: nasal-spray orexin-A has only small single-dose human studies, and the approved orexin medicines are small molecules.

A potent angiotensin IV analog studied for cognitive enhancement. Its Dihexa-derived prodrug fosgonimeton failed its Phase 2/3 Alzheimer's trial (LIFT-AD, 2024), and the foundational 2014 HGF/c-Met mechanism paper was retracted in 2025 — material context that reshapes how the preclinical literature should be read.

A short tripeptide studied for neuroprotective and cognitive-enhancing properties, part of the Khavinson peptide bioregulator family.

A synthetic peptide bioregulator targeting brain cortex function, studied for cognitive enhancement and neuroprotection in aging.

A terminally capped variant of Selank sold on the promise of a longer half-life. A systematic search of PubMed and Europe PMC returns zero publications on it — the phrases do not exist in the biomedical index at all. Where an acetylated sibling peptide has been tested, capping the N-terminus changed its biology rather than simply extending it.

A CNTF-derived neurogenic tetrapeptide with an adamantylated glycine for brain penetration, studied for fifteen years in Alzheimer, Down syndrome and traumatic brain injury mouse models — almost always given orally in the diet. Despite an active patent estate and a company developing it, P021 has never entered a human trial of any phase.

A low-molecular-weight dimeric dipeptide mimetic of nerve growth factor's fourth beta-turn loop, designed to reproduce NGF's neurotrophic effects at TrkA without the pain-sensitizing side effects of full-length NGF.

A low-molecular-weight dimeric dipeptide mimetic of the fourth loop of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), designed at the Zakusov Institute in Moscow and studied preclinically as an antidepressant and neuroprotective agent.

A neuropeptide encoded in the same prepronociceptin gene as nociceptin/orphanin FQ that functionally opposes nociceptin's actions on pain, memory, anxiety and feeding through targets distinct from the NOP receptor — though its own effect on pain is biphasic, anti-allodynic at low doses and frankly pro-nociceptive at high ones.

An 8-amino-acid fragment of activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP) that stabilises microtubules via the EB1/EB3 end-binding proteins. Sold in gray-market channels as a nootropic despite having failed a 313-patient Phase 2/3 trial in progressive supranuclear palsy and never once met a prespecified cognitive endpoint in any randomised trial.

A chemically modified version of Semax designed for improved stability. No published clinical or preclinical data exists for this specific compound.

An enhanced derivative of Semax with N-terminal acetylation and C-terminal adamantane modification, engineered for superior blood-brain barrier penetration, BDNF upregulation, and sustained nootropic effects.