SMAX

Semax

A synthetic heptapeptide: residues 4 to 7 of adrenocorticotropic hormone, Met-Glu-His-Phe, extended at the C-terminus with Pro-Gly-Pro. The added tripeptide is what resists enzymatic cleavage. The ACTH fragment it is built on has no corticotropic activity, and no receptor target for semax itself has been established in the published literature.

No registered human study names Semax as an intervention. ClinicalTrials.gov holds no trial of it, so there is no trial evidence to read — a fact about the public record rather than proof the compound does nothing. No FDA-approved product contains Semax. 53 papers naming it were published in the last ten years.

Collected 2026-08-02 from ClinicalTrials.gov and Drugs@FDA. Counts include only trials whose registered intervention names Semax; the registry search is fuzzy, so every match is re-checked. None of this says whether Semax works or is safe.

FDA status

Research only

Human studies

0

Furthest phase

Papers, 10 yr

53

Readership

14,065

monthly average, Feb–Jul 2026

Tracking since 2026-07-29 · About this data

What has actually been tested in humans

X

No registered human study

0

Registered human studies

None

No FDA-approved product contains it

No study of Semax in humans is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. That is a fact about the public record, not a statement that the compound does nothing — but it does mean there is no trial evidence to read, and anyone telling you otherwise should be asked for the registration number. The grade is mechanical: it is computed from the registry and the FDA record alone, and it grades how much is known, never whether a compound is good or safe. Collected 2026-08-02 from ClinicalTrials.gov and Drugs@FDA. Check the query.

What Semax is, and what it has been studied for

Semax is tracked here. Its FDA substance identifier is I5FAL2585H.

No registered trial names Semax as an intervention, so there is no condition it has been formally studied in. It does have a literature: 53 indexed papers name it in the last ten years. That work is laboratory and animal research, and a paper is not a trial.

Is anyone studying Semax?

Papers published each year that name Semax in the title or abstract, with the clinical trials that started in the same year marked beneath. Ten calendar years.

03581017181920212223242526
Vertical axis: papers published that year. Bar for 2026 is hatched because that year is still running.
Publications and trials naming Semax, by year
YearPublicationsTrials startedComplete year
201790Yes
201840Yes
201930Yes
202070Yes
202190Yes
202240Yes
202330Yes
202440Yes
202580Yes
202650No

53 papers between 2017 and 2026. A paper counts when “Semax” appears in its title or abstract — phrase-matched, so a paper mentioning the words separately is not counted. The total is a single query over the whole window, which is why it does not equal the bars added together: PubMed files a paper under both its electronic and its print publication date, so one paper can appear in two years. Publication volume measures scientific attention, not whether a compound works: a well-studied compound can be well-studied and ineffective. Sources: PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov · collected 2026-08-02.

Published research on Semax

53 indexed papers name Semax in their title or abstract. These are the 8 PubMed ranks most relevant. Listing a paper is not a judgement about it, and none of these is summarised here — follow the link and read what it says.

  1. Functional Connectomic Approach to Studying Selank and Semax Effects

    Panikratova YR, Lebedeva IS, Sokolov OY, et al.Doklady biological sciences : proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Biological sciences sections2020

    PMID 3234231810.1134/S001249662001007X

  2. Therapeutic Peptides in Orthopaedics: Applications, Challenges, and Future Directions

    Rahman OF, Lee SJ, Seeds WAJournal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews2026

    PMID 4149020010.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-25-00236

  3. Semax peptide targets the μ opioid receptor gene Oprm1 to promote deubiquitination and functional recovery after spinal cord injury in female mice

    Liu R, Chen Y, Huang H, et al.British journal of pharmacology2025

    PMID 4069216510.1111/bph.70122

  4. Pharmacological Aspects of Neuro-Immune Interactions

    Tarasov VV, Kudryashov NV, Chubarev VN, et al.Current pharmaceutical design2018

    PMID 2887585010.2174/1381612823666170829135115

  5. Influence of the N-terminus acetylation of Semax, a synthetic analog of ACTH(4-10), on copper(II) and zinc(II) coordination and biological properties

    Magrì A, Tabbì G, Giuffrida A, et al.Journal of inorganic biochemistry2016

    PMID 2758681410.1016/j.jinorgbio.2016.08.013

  6. The Potential of the Peptide Drug Semax and Its Derivative for Correcting Pathological Impairments in the Animal Model of Alzheimer's Disease

    Radchenko AI, Kuzubova EV, Apostol AA, et al.Acta naturae2025

    PMID 4147957210.32607/actanaturae.27808

  7. The peptide semax affects the expression of genes related to the immune and vascular systems in rat brain focal ischemia: genome-wide transcriptional analysis

    Medvedeva EV, Dmitrieva VG, Povarova OV, et al.BMC genomics2014

    PMID 2466160410.1186/1471-2164-15-228

  8. Semax and Pro-Gly-Pro activate the transcription of neurotrophins and their receptor genes after cerebral ischemia

    Dmitrieva VG, Povarova OV, Skvortsova VI, et al.Cellular and molecular neurobiology2010

    PMID 1963395010.1007/s10571-009-9432-0

Collected 2026-08-02from PubMed, phrase-matched on “Semax” in title and abstract. Run the same search.

About Semax

A synthetic heptapeptide: residues 4 to 7 of adrenocorticotropic hormone, Met-Glu-His-Phe, extended at the C-terminus with Pro-Gly-Pro. The added tripeptide is what resists enzymatic cleavage. The ACTH fragment it is built on has no corticotropic activity, and no receptor target for semax itself has been established in the published literature.

Also known as
ACTH (4-7) PGP

Structure and mechanism only. Nothing above describes what this compound is for, and no dose appears anywhere on this page.

Reading on this compound

All articles

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