Semax Dosage: Common Nasal Protocol and Study Doses
Semax dosage: the common protocol (100-600 mcg intranasal) plus the 6-12 mg/day doses two published human studies actually used.
The short version
Semax has no approved dose, because it has no approved product outside Russia. Two published human studies report a dose, both intranasal at 6-12 mg/day under clinical supervision, in patients with motor neuron disease or recovering from ischemic stroke. For healthy-adult cognitive use, telehealth clinics describe 100-600 mcg intranasally once or twice daily, in 10-21 day courses with a 1-2 week break. That is common practice, not trial-established, and the clinic sources disagree on the exact number.
- A motor-neuron-disease trial used Semax 1% solution intranasally at 12 mg/day, two 10-day courses with a 2-week break.
- A stroke-rehabilitation trial used 6 mg/day intranasally, two 10-day courses with a 20-day break.
- Telehealth clinics describe 100-600 mcg intranasal, 1-2x daily, 10-21 day courses, 1-2 week break - common practice, sources disagree on the number.
- Neither published trial studied the healthy-adult cognitive use vendors market it for.
Semax has no approved dose, because it has no approved product outside Russia. This page gives the protocol clinic and vendor guides commonly describe for cognitive use. It then reports what two published human studies used: both intranasal, both in patients under clinical supervision, and neither the healthy-adult “focus and memory” protocol vendors describe. For the fuller evidence picture, including how much of the literature is Russian-language and unreplicated, see the main Semax and Selank guide.
US legal status - Research use only
Not approved for human use in the US and sold through research-chemical channels. Used clinically in Russia, which is why vendors sometimes describe it as an approved medicine - true there, not where it is being bought.
Semax dosage: the common protocol
Telehealth clinics describe a range, not one number, and the two sources I found do not match exactly.
- One clinic prescribes a fixed 250 mcg per spray, one spray in each nostril, once daily, in 14-21 day courses followed by a break, per Russian-clinical-protocol convention.
- A second clinic publishes a wider 100-600 mcg range, once or twice daily, in 10-20 day courses with a 1-2 week break.
Treat 100-600 mcg, once or twice daily, in roughly 10-21 day courses with a 1-2 week break, as common practice. No trial or regulator has established it. It is best used in the morning, because dosing late in the day is associated with sleep disruption.
Common protocol
What is commonly used, not a dose established in trials. No regulator has set a dose for Semax. Sources differ, so the ranges below span them.
- Dose per administration
- 100-600 mcg
- How often
- once daily for a fixed telehealth-prescribed protocol, up to twice daily in a wider clinic-published range
- Route
- Nasal spray or drops
- Cycle length
- 1.5-3 weeks
- Break between cycles
- 1-2 weeks
- Timing
- Best used in the morning; dosing late in the day is associated with sleep disruption. Run in short courses (roughly 10-21 days) with a 1-2 week break between courses, matching the Russian-clinical-protocol cadence.
- Commonly paired with
- Selank
A telehealth clinic (Rx Peps Direct, prescriptions filled by Optimal Balance Pharmacy, a 503A compounder) prescribes a fixed 250 mcg-per-spray, one spray per nostril, once-daily Semax/Selank protocol in courses of 14-21 days with a break, per Russian clinical-protocol convention. A second clinic (Klearmind Clinics, a licensed California telehealth practice) publishes a wider low/moderate range of 100-600 mcg, 1-2 times daily, in 10-20 day courses with a 1-2 week break. The numeric range here spans both; agreement is 'varies' because the fixed clinic dose and the wider published range don't match exactly. Neither remaining source states a vial size, so that field is left null rather than carried over from a dropped source.
Semax doses used in human studies: motor neuron disease (12 mg/day)
An open-label sequential-groups trial in 27 adults with definite, probable or possible motor neuron disease Serdiuk 2007 - Serdiuk AV, Levitskiĭ GN, Miasoedov NF et al. [The study of chronic partial denervation and quality of life in patients with motor neuron disease treated with semax]. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2007;107(4):29-39., in the references below gave Semax as a 1% solution, administered intranasally, at:
- 12 mg/day, in two 10-day courses separated by a 2-week break
The paper reports that Semax did not change the course of the nerve-damage measure the trial tracked. It did improve total quality-of-life scores, most around day 10, through a better emotional state and motivation. This was a hospital-monitored neurology trial, not a healthy-adult protocol.
Semax doses used in human studies: stroke rehabilitation (6 mg/day)
A trial in 110 adults recovering from ischemic stroke Gusev 2018 - Gusev EI, Martynov MY, Kostenko EV et al. [The efficacy of semax in the tretament of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke]. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2018;118(3. Vyp. 2):61-68., in the references below gave Semax intranasally at:
- 6 mg/day (6000 mcg/day), in two 10-day courses separated by a 20-day interval
Patients were split by rehabilitation timing (early vs. late) and by whether they received Semax. The paper reports that Semax raised plasma BDNF levels regardless of timing. It was also associated with faster gains on the Barthel index of daily function. The trial ran alongside physical rehabilitation and is not a self-directed dosing schedule.
What vendors and clinics describe
Telehealth clinic pages describe Semax for healthy-adult cognitive use: the 100-600 mcg, once-or-twice-daily protocol above, in short courses with a break. These doses and schedules are common practice, not traceable to either published trial, and the clinic sources do not agree on the exact number.
Reconstitution and volume: use the calculator, not a guess
Neither trial above used a reconstituted vial. Both used a prepared 1% nasal solution dosed by volume. If you are working through concentration and volume math for a specific product, the dosage calculator performs that arithmetic. It does not choose a dose.
What is not established
- No FDA-approved product, label or consumer dose exists for Semax in the US.
- No published human study of the healthy-adult cognitive-use case. Both located studies enrolled patients with a diagnosed neurological condition.
- No long-term outpatient safety data beyond two short, hospital-monitored courses.
- No verified content or purity for a vial bought through research-chemical channels.
Who should not use it
No FDA-reviewed contraindication list exists, because no such review has happened. Both trials enrolled patients with a specific diagnosed condition, under clinical monitoring. That describes who a monitored trial enrolled. It is not a safety clearance for anyone self-directing outside that setting. Nobody should decide this alone, and an unapproved research chemical is not something to use around any medical condition, medication or pregnancy status.
Semax side effects and risks
Beyond the two trials above, there is no published long-term outpatient safety record for Semax and no FDA-reviewed label. There is also no verified content or purity for a vial bought outside a trial or the Russian pharmacy system. The main guide covers the wider evidence picture, including why most of the Semax literature is Russian-language and has not been independently replicated.
Related
- Semax and Selank: where the research actually sits
- Selank dosage: what the animal studies used
- Dosage calculator
Where to buy Semax for research
Each vendor is checked against my vendor checklist.
1.Next Level PharmFeatured
5 mg vial
- No FDA warning letter found
- Names its testing lab
- Batch COAs published
- Takes card payment
2.Spartan Peptides
30 mg vial
- No FDA warning letter found
- Names its testing lab
3.BioEdge Research Labs
N-acetyl Semax amidate 10 mg vial
- No FDA warning letter found
- Names its testing lab
- Batch COAs published
Common questions
What is the usual Semax dose?
For healthy-adult cognitive use, telehealth clinics describe a range, not one number. One clinic prescribes a fixed 250 mcg per spray, one spray in each nostril, once daily, in 14-21 day courses followed by a break, per Russian-clinical-protocol convention. A second clinic publishes a wider 100-600 mcg range, once or twice daily, in 10-20 day courses with a 1-2 week break. The sources disagree, so treat 100-600 mcg once or twice daily, in roughly 10-21 day courses with a 1-2 week break, as common practice. No trial or regulator has established it. The two published human trials used a different population and a higher dose (see the next question).
What dose of Semax did human studies use?
Two published human studies report a dose. One, in 27 patients with motor neuron disease, used Semax 1% solution intranasally at 12 milligrams per day, as two 10-day courses with a 2-week break. The other, in 110 patients recovering from ischemic stroke, used 6 milligrams per day intranasally, as two 10-day courses with a 20-day interval. Neither is a healthy-adult cognitive-enhancement protocol.
Is there an FDA-approved Semax dose?
No. Semax has no FDA-approved product or label in the US. It is used clinically in Russia. The doses on this page come from published trials in Russian patient populations, not from any FDA review.
References (3 sources)
Bibliographic detail is fetched from PubMed, not written by me - so a citation here cannot drift from the paper it names. Study design comes from PubMed's own tags rather than my judgement.
- 1.Serdiuk AV, Levitskiĭ GN, Miasoedov NF et al. [The study of chronic partial denervation and quality of life in patients with motor neuron disease treated with semax]. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2007;107(4):29-39.Randomised trialPMID 18379501
- 2.Gusev EI, Martynov MY, Kostenko EV et al. [The efficacy of semax in the tretament of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke]. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2018;118(3. Vyp. 2):61-68.Clinical trialPMID 29798983
- 3.America's Poison Centers - confirms 1-800-222-1222 as the national Poison Help line, free at no cost and available 24/7/365.- America's Poison Centersother