Peptide basics
One cognitive peptide has 39 trials. The rest of its category has almost none
Cerebrolysin has 39 verified registered trials enrolling 4,405 people, and has reached phase 4.
It has no FDA-approved product, which for a phase 4 compound means approval elsewhere rather than nowhere.
The rest of its category is close to empty: semax, selank, dihexa, noopept, DSIP and pinealon have zero registered trials between them.
So one compound accounts for essentially the entire human evidence base of the cognitive and mood category on this site.
This page describes the trial and regulatory record of cerebrolysin and its category. It makes no claim about whether it works, does not compare it to any treatment, and contains no dose, schedule or route.
The record
Cerebrolysin has 39 registered trials verified as administering it, with 4,405 participants between them, and a furthest phase of 4. That is more registered human evidence than every other compound in its category on this site combined, several times over.1
It does not appear in the FDA's approval records. Because phase 4 research requires a marketed product, the combination indicates approval in jurisdictions other than the United States rather than an absence of regulatory review anywhere.23
The category around it
- Semax: 0 verified trials, 53 indexed publications, 14,065 monthly readers.
- Selank: 0 verified trials, 19 publications, 6,791 monthly readers.
- Dihexa: 0 verified trials, 6 publications, 4,044 monthly readers.
- Noopept: 0 verified trials, 21 publications, 224 monthly readers.
- DSIP: 0 verified trials, 11 publications, 2,664 monthly readers.
- Pinealon: 0 verified trials, 1 publication, 2,562 monthly readers.14
Semax and selank both have clinical histories in Russian-language sources that English-language registries do not index, so their zeros describe the record available here rather than the whole world's research.1
What makes cerebrolysin unusual
It is not a single defined peptide. It is a preparation derived from brain tissue containing a mixture of peptides and amino acids, which is a different kind of product from a synthesised molecule with one formula.1
That is also why this site has no PubChem identity record for it. A mixture does not have a molecular formula, and the absence on its page is a fact about what it is rather than a gap in our collection.1
Common questions
Why is it not FDA-approved if it has 39 trials?
Approval requires a sponsor to file an application with the FDA specifically. A compound can be studied extensively and marketed elsewhere without anyone pursuing that route.
Does a phase 4 label guarantee quality?
No. It indicates the compound is marketed somewhere and is being studied post-approval. It says nothing about how rigorous any individual trial was.
Why does it have no molecular formula on its page?
Because it is a tissue-derived mixture rather than a single molecule. Publishing a formula for it would misrepresent what it is.
Sources
- RegulatoryClinicalTrials.gov search — intervention: cerebrolysinU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026clinicaltrials.gov/search?intr=cerebrolysin ↗↩ Back to text
- RegulatoryDrugs@FDA — approved drug products databaseU.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/ ↗↩ Back to text
- RegulatoryClinicalTrials.gov — glossary of study phasesU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026clinicaltrials.gov/study-basics/glossary ↗↩ Back to text
- Secondary sourceWikimedia REST API — English Wikipedia pageviewsWikimedia Foundation, 2026wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/#/Pageviews%20data ↗↩ Back to text