Selank

A synthetic heptapeptide analog of tuftsin (a naturally occurring tetrapeptide fragment of human IgG heavy chain) extended with a Pro-Gly-Pro tripeptide for metabolic stability. Developed jointly at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and the Zakusov Research Institute of Pharmacology, Selank has been studied for anxiolytic, immunomodulatory, and nootropic properties.

It is approved in Russia as a prescription anxiolytic (0.15% intranasal drops) for generalized anxiety disorder and neurasthenia. It is not approved by the FDA or Health Canada. Its studied mechanisms include positive allosteric modulation of GABA_A receptors, inhibition of enkephalin-degrading enzymes, and broad immunomodulatory effects including antiviral activity.

Russian clinical trials in GAD patients have reported anxiolytic efficacy comparable to benzodiazepines without sedation, cognitive impairment, or dependence.

Selank has been studied in multiple human clinical trials in Russia. Zozulia et al. (2008) compared Selank to medazepam in 62 GAD/neurasthenia patients and reported comparable anxiolytic effects with additional antiasthenic properties. Medvedev et al. (2014, 2015) studied Selank in phobic-anxiety and somatoform disorders and in combination with phenazepam.

Mechanistic studies have demonstrated that Selank alters expression of 45 of 84 neurotransmission genes in rat frontal cortex within 1 hour (Volkova et al., 2016), inhibits enkephalin-degrading enzymes with IC₅₀ of 15 μM (Zozulya et al., 2001), and acts as a positive allosteric modulator of GABA_A receptors (Vyunova et al., 2018).

Immunomodulatory studies have shown antiviral activity against influenza and herpes viruses, and broad cytokine modulation. Community-reported dosing is based on the approved Russian 0.15% formulation.