Kalios
← Compounds

Sleep & focus

Cortagen

Gray market

Checked · 20 sources · 13 corrections on this page · No vendors · No affiliates · No one buys a word of it

0 human trials in journals

Preclinical · its only human data: two small studies in the developers' patent

Gray market · No FDA ruling — not on any list

Sold as a research chemical. Some clinics and pharmacies still supply it; that’s their risk, not a change in the rule.

Bottom line

The synthetic answer to Cortexin. No independent human trial of the pure peptide exists.

Also called
  • Ala-Glu-Asp-Pro (AEDP)
  • Cortical bioregulator
  • Khavinson cortex peptide
  • Cortexin active fragment
Category
Peptide — Khavinson Cortical / Neural Bioregulator
Class
Tetrapeptide bioregulator
Sequence
Ala-Glu-Asp-Pro (AEDP)
Molecular Weight
~430 Da
Route (studied)
IM (people, patent reports only) · IM, IP (rats)
Route (sold)
Capsules (one seller, research only; peptide amount not stated); SubQ/IM vials (research)
Target Tissue
Cerebral cortex / PNS
FDA Status
Not approved
Evidence
Preclinical (synthetic); parent extract Cortexin has Rx status in Russia
Developer
Khavinson (St. Petersburg)
WADA Status
Not specifically listed — prohibited at all times under S0 (no government has approved it for human use)
Cost & Access
Research-only

Also for sleep & focus

The other four questions

What does it do? In rats, ten days of injections sped nerve regrowth after a sciatic-nerve cut (Turchaninova et al., 2000). The developers' patent also reports faster recovery after brain injury in rats and better memory-test scores in mice after electroshock or alcohol (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).
Who uses it? Khavinson-bioregulator users and nootropic self-experimenters, who buy it online as a research chemical; sellers list 20 mg vials.
Does the evidence hold up? Mostly preclinical. A 2000 Russian study found 27% faster nerve growth and 40% faster nerve-signal conduction in rats after a sciatic-nerve cut (Turchaninova et al., 2000). The developers' patent adds two small human studies, neither described as randomized (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701). Cortexin (the extract) has a Russian clinical record, but that doesn't cover the synthetic short peptide.
Bottom line? The synthetic answer to Cortexin. No independent human trial of the pure peptide exists.

Dosing from the Literature

Published for brain recovery: 1 μg or 3 μg injected once a day, for 10 days in patients with old brain injuries and for 30 days in older patients with vascular dementia, in the developers' patent. Not published: a randomized trial, any human trial in a medical journal, or a figure for a form taken by mouth. Cortexin's doses don't carry over.

No human dose of synthetic AEDP comes from a trial published in a medical journal. The human doses below come from the developers' patent, and the animal dose from the 2000 rat nerve study. Cortexin parent-extract dosing is entirely separate and is not interchangeable. Not FDA-approved prescribing.

No figure has been published for a form taken by mouth: every dose on this page was injected. One seller lists Cortagen capsules for research use, without the amount of peptide in each (read October 13, 2026); no Cortagen supplement was found (searched October 12, 2026).

FormDoseFrequencyCourse / Source
Intramuscular injection1 μgOnce daily10 days, added to standard treatment — Developers' patent: 15 patients with after-effects of a brain injury 1–10 years earlier; 10 patients on standard treatment alone and 10 on standard treatment plus Cerebrolysin were the comparison groups, with no randomization described (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701)
Intramuscular injection3 μgOnce daily30 days — Developers' patent: 12 patients aged 69–76 with vascular dementia after years of high blood pressure and cerebral atherosclerosis; no control group: results were compared with the same patients' results before treatment (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701)
Intramuscular injection (rats)10 μg/kgOnce daily10 days, from the day of surgery — Study: male Wistar rats after a sciatic-nerve cut and suture, 25 in all with saline-treated controls (Turchaninova et al., 2000)
Cortexin parent extract (for reference — separate product)10 mg IMOnce daily (twice daily after an ischemic stroke)10 days; the label gives a repeat course after 3–6 months when needed, or after 10 days in stroke. Cortexin, not AEDP — Cortexin label (Russia): adults; the stroke regimen covers the acute and early recovery periods
Dosing Disclaimer

No human pharmacokinetic study of synthetic AEDP was found. Cortagen (synthetic tetrapeptide) and Cortexin (prescription polypeptide extract) are distinct — they are different products at different doses with different regulatory status. Consult a licensed healthcare provider.

→ Calculator — vial-to-syringe math

What It Is

Cortagen is a synthetic tetrapeptide (a chain of 4 amino acids) within the Khavinson bioregulator program. Its sequence is Ala-Glu-Asp-Pro (AEDP), with an approximate molecular weight of 430 daltons. It shares the "Ala-Glu-Asp" acidic core with Khavinson siblings Epithalon (AEDG, pineal), Bronchogen (AEDL, bronchial), and Cardiogen (AEDR, heart) — with proline as the C-terminal residue proposed to confer cortical-tissue specificity.

Cortagen is positioned as the short-peptide active fragment derived from Cortexin, a polypeptide complex extracted from calf cerebral cortex that is — unlike most Khavinson parent extracts — a registered prescription pharmaceutical in Russia. Cortexin is used in Russian neurology for cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke recovery, pediatric perinatal encephalopathy, and age-related cognitive decline. The Khavinson program's claim is that AEDP represents the defined short peptide responsible for a substantial portion of Cortexin's bioregulatory effect; the group made it by directed synthesis, based on an amino-acid analysis of Cortexin (Turchaninova et al., 2000).

This Cortexin–Cortagen relationship distinguishes Cortagen within the Khavinson peptide family: the parent extract has a much larger clinical-use evidence base (Russian-language mainly, observational and non-placebo-controlled in much of the literature, but extensive) than any other Khavinson tissue extract. Cortexin's clinical footprint does not, however, directly validate the defined synthetic AEDP tetrapeptide; the data apply to the complex extract, which contains dozens to hundreds of peptides in addition to any specific fragment.

Commercially, synthetic Cortagen is sold as a research chemical: sellers list 20 mg vials, and one lists capsules without the amount of peptide in each, all for research use only (read October 13, 2026). No source shows it in the Khavinson dietary-supplement line or sold as a supplement (searched October 12, 2026). Cortexin (the parent extract, not the synthetic AEDP) is sold as a prescription injectable pharmaceutical in Russia and several CIS markets.

In the West, Cortagen is sold online as a research chemical, to a nootropic / neuroprotective niche. It is not recognized by Western neurology, and no study has tested it in place of guideline-directed stroke, TBI, or cognitive-impairment care.

Who Khavinson was, and what his record supports →

Mechanism of Action

The Khavinson group proposes that short peptides such as Cortagen enter the cell nucleus and change which genes are expressed (Khavinson et al., 2021; PMID 34834147); its 2020 review states that AEDP, like Epithalon's AEDG, induces immature (pluripotent) cells in skin, connective and nerve tissue to differentiate (Khavinson et al., 2020; PMID 31808038). The mechanism is described mainly by the originating research program: 11 of the 14 papers and books in the reference list name Khavinson as an author.

  • Peripheral nerve regeneration — Turchaninova 2000 (Bull Exp Biol Med 130(12):654-656) — In the rat sciatic-nerve transection-and-suture model, intramuscular Cortagen 10 μg/kg/day for 10 days increased axonal growth rate by 27% and conduction velocity in regenerating fibers by 40% compared with control. This is the flagship publication linking AEDP to objective nerve-regeneration endpoints.
  • Brain injury (rats) — In rats with a severe crush injury to the brain, injections in the first four days doubled the number of animals able to learn an avoidance task at 96 hours and sped the recovery of coordination, more than Cerebrolysin did, the developers' patent reports (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).
  • Lipid peroxidation — In 20 rats given 1 μg a day by intraperitoneal injection for 5 days, the developers' patent reports fewer lipid- and protein-oxidation products in the brain cortex (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).
  • Learning and memory (mice) — In a passive-avoidance test, the peptide did not change learning in normal mice but improved it in mice given an electroshock or 13 days of alcohol, the developers' patent reports (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).
  • DNA / chromatin interaction (framework-level) — Fedoreyeva 2011 (PMID 22117547) demonstrated nuclear penetration of short fluorescence-labeled Khavinson peptides. The Khavinson 2021 review (Molecules, PMID 34834147) frames AEDP within the broader short-peptide-as-epigenetic-modulator model.
  • Immune cells (mice) — In macrophages from young and old mice, the short peptides Vilon, Epithalon and Cortagen changed the cells' output of lymphocyte-activating factors, with opposite effects in resting and stimulated cells (Gumen et al., 2006; PMID 17426849). No Cortagen study of microglia, the brain's immune cells, was found.
  • Tissue specificity (claimed) — The group reports that its tetrapeptides for the heart, liver, brain cortex and pineal gland each stimulate the growth of explants of their own organ in culture (Khavinson, 2002; PMID 12374906). AEDP shares its first three amino acids with Epithalon's AEDG and Bronchogen's AEDL (Fedoreyeva et al., 2011; PMID 22117547) and Cardiogen's AEDR (Khavinson et al., 2021; PMID 34834147).

Limitation: as with other Khavinson peptides, mechanism is primarily a hypothesis advanced within a single research program. No study from outside Russia and Georgia has tested Cortagen: every Cortagen paper found in PubMed comes from groups there.

What the Research Shows

Cortagen's evidence base is meaningfully stronger than most Khavinson peptides by virtue of its relationship to the registered pharmaceutical Cortexin. The synthetic AEDP tetrapeptide itself, however, remains mostly preclinical: its only human data found are two small studies in the developers' patent (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).

  • Sciatic-nerve regeneration (Turchaninova 2000, Bull Exp Biol Med 130(12):654-656) — IM AEDP 10 μg/kg/day for 10 days after rat sciatic nerve transection-and-suture produced 27% faster axonal growth rate and 40% faster conduction velocity. The landmark publication for defined AEDP.
  • Delayed nerve-function restoration (Kolosova 2002, Dokl Biol Sci 384:183-184) — Follow-up paper describing the delayed effect of AEDP on functional nerve restoration.
  • Cortical gene-expression regulation — Khavinson group papers in Bull Exp Biol Med describe AEDP modulation of neurotrophic-factor and antioxidant-enzyme gene expression in cortical cultures.
  • Tissue-specific differentiation (Khavinson/Linkova 2012, PMID 22808515) — Pancragen, bronchogen and vesugen raised differentiation markers in aged pancreatic, bronchial and prostate-fibroblast cultures; cortagen (AEDP) and brain cells were not part of the study.
  • Epigenetic-modulator framing (Khavinson 2021, PMID 34834147) — Systematic review including AEDP within the gene-regulatory peptide bioregulator framework.
  • Heterochromatin regulation (Lezhava 2014, Int J Pept Res Ther 21:157-163) — Epigenetic regulation of "aged" heterochromatin by Cortagen-family peptide bioregulators.
  • Cortexin parent-extract clinical literature (extensive, Russian-language) — Cortexin has been used in stroke recovery, TBI, cerebrovascular disease, pediatric cerebral palsy and developmental delay, and age-related cognitive decline since its registration as a medicine in Russia in 1999 (see the Cortexin page). The Russian-language literature includes multiple randomized-design trials (methodology varies) reporting improvements in cognitive function, EEG normalization, and neurological recovery. Gromova 2015 (Neurology, Neuropsychiatry, Psychosomatics 7(1):88-95) reviews Cortexin's proposed mechanism.
  • Caveat — Cortexin ≠ AEDP — The extensive Cortexin clinical literature applies to the complex tissue extract, not to defined synthetic AEDP. Conflation is common in vendor marketing; the scientific separation is important.
  • No AEDP human RCTs — No English-indexed, peer-reviewed, double-blind placebo-controlled trials of the synthetic tetrapeptide AEDP itself exist for any neurological indication.
  • No specialty-society recognition — AAN, AHA/ASA, AES, AAP, and ANA do not mention Cortagen in guidance documents.
Research Limitations

Cortagen's evidence base mixes two categorically different kinds of evidence: the extensive but observational / methodologically variable Cortexin parent-extract literature, and the sparse preclinical evidence for the defined synthetic AEDP tetrapeptide. Results for the extract do not carry over to the peptide. No RCTs of synthetic Cortagen exist, and no study has tested it in place of evidence-based stroke, TBI, epilepsy, dementia, or neurodegenerative disease care. Claims that synthetic Cortagen "treats" neurological disease rest on extrapolation from the parent extract, not direct AEDP evidence.

Human Data

No published randomized controlled human trials of the synthetic AEDP tetrapeptide exist. Accessible human-use information:

  • Cortexin parent-extract clinical use (not AEDP) — Cortexin has been used in Russian neurology for stroke, TBI, pediatric neurology, cerebrovascular disease, and age-related cognitive decline since its registration as a medicine in Russia in 1999 (see the Cortexin page). Extensive but largely Russian-language literature; methodological quality varies; applies to the crude extract, not synthetic AEDP.
  • Community self-experimentation — Nootropic / neurorecovery self-experimenters who buy it online as a research chemical. Anecdotal.
  • No human PK/PD for synthetic AEDP — No published pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic data.
  • No imaging-based outcome data — No MRI, DTI, or functional imaging data documenting AEDP effects on human brain structure or function.
  • No cognitive RCT — No randomized placebo-controlled trial using standardized cognitive instruments (MoCA, MMSE, ADAS-cog) on synthetic AEDP.
  • No WADA-relevant data — No effect on exercise performance or anti-doping-relevant endpoints documented.

Position Within Evidence-Based Neurology

The comparative frame for Cortagen in neurology is informative. Ischemic stroke management centers on reperfusion therapy (IV tPA / tenecteplase, mechanical thrombectomy) within time windows established by ECASS, NINDS, DAWN, DEFUSE-3 and others, then secondary prevention with antiplatelets, anticoagulation for cardioembolic sources, statin therapy, and blood-pressure management. Traumatic brain injury care emphasizes intracranial pressure management, osmotic therapy, surgical decompression where indicated, and rehabilitation. Alzheimer's disease now has anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies (lecanemab, donanemab) in addition to cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine. Parkinson's disease treatment is levodopa-anchored with adjunct agonists and MAO-B inhibitors.

Within this evidence-rich space, Cortagen has no evidence-based positioning. The most mechanistically adjacent agent on the Kalios database is Cerebrolysin — which has 200+ published clinical trials including the CARS / CASTA stroke program, CAPTAIN I/II TBI program, multiple dementia RCTs, and Cochrane-review engagement. Cerebrolysin is not FDA-approved but has legitimate international clinical use and a substantial independent (if sponsor-biased) evidence base. Cortagen has neither FDA approval nor a comparable clinical-trial footprint.

What Cortagen does have is an association with a registered pharmaceutical (Cortexin) whose clinical use is established in approving countries. That association strengthens the scientific narrative — the AEDP tetrapeptide is not an arbitrary short peptide; it is the proposed active fragment of a compound with decades of clinical use. But the narrative is not the evidence. The evidence for synthetic AEDP remains mostly preclinical.

Reconstitution & Storage

Research-chemical sellers list Cortagen as lyophilized powder in 20 mg vials. Cortexin parent extract is a separate prescription product with its own preparation.

VialBAC WaterConcentration
20 mg2 mL10 mg/mL (10,000 μg/mL)
20 mg5 mL4 mg/mL (4,000 μg/mL)
  • Reconstitution — Reconstitution guides describe swirling gently rather than shaking.
  • Storage — One seller’s capsule listing says to keep them dry, below 25°C and out of direct sunlight (read October 13, 2026); no label or listing cited here gives storage conditions for the vials.

→ Calculator — vial-to-syringe math

Side Effects & Risks

Important

Cortagen's synthetic tetrapeptide has no independent human trial. The Russian clinical record belongs to the parent extract Cortexin, not to AEDP. Consult a licensed healthcare provider.

  • Human safety data — The developers' patent describes two small human studies, 15 patients given 1 μg a day for 10 days and 12 given 3 μg a day for 30 days, and mentions no side effects in either (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701). No other human safety data were found.
  • Cortexin's label — For Cortexin, the parent extract, the label lists very rare reactions, among them allergic reactions up to anaphylactic shock, agitation, anxiety, insomnia, headache, dizziness, fast or irregular heartbeat, raised blood pressure and redness at the injection site (Cortexin label). Whether any apply to synthetic Cortagen is unknown.
  • Animal toxicology — The developers' patent reports no deaths or toxic signs in mice after single injections of up to 5 mg/kg, and no pathological changes in rats injected daily with up to 3 mg/kg for 90 days or 1 mg/kg for 6 months (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701). No full toxicology report, and no reproductive or genotoxicity study, was found.
  • Not tested in place of neurology therapy — No study has tested Cortagen in place of standard care for stroke, TBI, dementia, Parkinson's, epilepsy, MS, or any neurological disease; the developers' brain-injury study added it to standard treatment (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).
  • Purity / source concerns — Sold as a research chemical, it is not held to drug-quality standards.
  • Pregnancy / lactation / pediatric — No study of Cortagen in pregnancy, breastfeeding or children was found. Cortexin's label lists pregnancy and breastfeeding as contraindications, for lack of clinical data, and includes children with delayed development or cerebral palsy among its uses (Cortexin label).
  • WADA status — Not specifically named on the 2026 WADA Prohibited List.
  • Theoretical epigenetic concerns — Because the group proposes that short peptides change which genes cells express (Khavinson et al., 2021), effects on unintended genes are possible in theory; no long-term human data exist.

Bloodwork & Monitoring

No trial, label or guideline sets monitoring for Cortagen. In the developers' patent, the brain-injury study measured attention with a proofreading test and brain electrical activity by EEG, and the vascular-dementia study measured memory, attention, arithmetic and reaction times before and after the course (Khavinson et al., US patent 7,189,701).

Commonly Stacked With

No study or seller listing found pairs Cortagen with another peptide. A study from Khavinson's institute tested it side by side with Vilon and Epithalon, not in combination (Gumen et al., 2006).

Stacking this? Read the receipt →

→ Calculator — vial-to-syringe math

Legal Status

Current Status — April 2026

Synthetic Cortagen is not approved by the U.S. FDA for any indication and has not been the subject of an IND or NDA filing. It is not approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Cortexin (the polypeptide parent extract, not synthetic AEDP) is a registered prescription pharmaceutical in Russia and several CIS jurisdictions, approved for cerebrovascular disease, TBI sequelae, pediatric cerebral palsy and developmental delay, and age-related cognitive disorders. Cortexin is not FDA- or EMA-approved in the U.S. or EU central market. Cortexin and Cortagen are different products, with different regulatory status.

Synthetic Cortagen's sale in Russia as a "biologically active additive" (BAD, a dietary supplement) is undocumented: no source shows it, and the one Russian seller of Cortagen capsules found labels them for research only, not as a medicine or a BAD (read October 13, 2026). It is not a registered pharmaceutical.

Cortagen is not on the FDA Category 2 Bulk Drug Substances list, and it was not among the 12 peptides FDA removed from that list in April 2026 (FDA 503A categories list, April 22, 2026).

Cortagen is not specifically named on the WADA Prohibited List. WADA’s S0 clause (non-approved substances) prohibits at all times any pharmacological substance that no other section covers and that no government health authority has approved for human therapeutic use (WADA Prohibited List 2026).

Cost & Access

Synthetic Cortagen is not approved for human use in the United States. An oral supplement form is undocumented; vials and, from one seller, capsules are sold online as research chemicals, for laboratory research use only (read October 13, 2026).

No U.S. compounding pharmacy can legally compound Cortagen — it has no FDA-approved reference product and is not on the Category 1 bulk substance list.

Cortexin (parent extract) is dispensed on prescription in approving jurisdictions and administered intramuscularly in clinical settings. It is not available through U.S. channels.

Cortagen was not among the 12 peptides FDA removed from Category 2 in April 2026 (FDA 503A categories list, April 22, 2026). Absent formal FDA development of either Cortagen or Cortexin, neither will be available through legitimate U.S. clinical channels.

Access and availability information as of April 2026. Kalios does not sell compounds.

References

  1. Turchaninova LN, Kolosova LI, Malinin VV, Moiseeva AB, Nozdrachev AD, Khavinson VKh. Effect of tetrapeptide cortagen on regeneration of sciatic nerve. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2000;130(12):1155-1156. (Translated from Byulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 130, No. 12, pp. 654-656.) DOI: 10.1007/BF02682018. (Flagship Cortagen nerve-regeneration paper — 27% faster axonal growth, 40% faster conduction velocity.)
  2. Kolosova LI, Moiseeva AB, Turchaninova LN, Malinin VV, Polyakov EL, Nozdrachev AD, Khavinson VKh. The delayed effect of cortagen on the restoration of injured nerve function. Doklady Biological Sciences. 2002;384:183-184. PMID: 12134478.
  3. Lezhava T, Monaselidze J, Jokhadze T, Gaiozishvili M. Epigenetic Regulation of "Aged" Heterochromatin by Peptide Bioregulator Cortagen. International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics. 2014;21(1):157-163. DOI: 10.1007/s10989-014-9443-7.
  4. Fedoreyeva LI, Kireev II, Khavinson VKh, Vanyushin BF. Penetration of short fluorescence-labeled peptides into the nucleus in HeLa cells and the specific interaction of the peptides with deoxyribooligonucleotides and DNA in vitro. Biochemistry (Moscow). 2011;76(11):1210-1219. PMID: 22117547.
  5. Khavinson VKh, Linkova NS, Polyakova VO, Kheifets OV, Tarnovskaya SI, Kvetnoy IM. Peptides tissue-specifically stimulate cell differentiation during their aging. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2012;153(1):148-151. PMID: 22808515.
  6. Khavinson VKh, Popovich IG, Linkova NS, Mironova ES, Ilina AR. Peptide Regulation of Gene Expression: A Systematic Review. Molecules. 2021;26(22):7053. PMID: 34834147.
  7. Gromova OA, Torshin IYu, Kalacheva AG, et al. Cortexin: modern view on the mechanism of action. Neurology, Neuropsychiatry, Psychosomatics. 2015;7(1):88-95. (Russian-language review of Cortexin parent-extract mechanism and clinical use.)
  8. Gumen AV, Kozinets IA, Shanin SN, Malinin VV, Rybakina EG. Production of lymphocyte-activating factors by mouse macrophages during aging and under the effect of short peptides. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2006;142(3):360-362. PMID: 17426849.
  9. Khavinson VKh. Peptides and ageing. Neuroendocrinology Letters. 2002;23(Suppl 3):11-144. PMID: 12374906.
  10. Khavinson VKh, Malinin VV. Gerontological Aspects of Genome Peptide Regulation. Karger Publishers, Basel, 2005. ISBN 978-3-8055-7895-0. DOI: 10.1159/isbn.978-3-318-01193-7.
  11. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh. Peptide bioregulation of aging: results and prospects. Biogerontology. 2010;11(2):139-149. PMID: 19830585.
  12. Khavinson V, Linkova N, Diatlova A, Trofimova S. Peptide Regulation of Cell Differentiation. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. 2020;16(1):118-125. PMID: 31808038. DOI: 10.1007/s12015-019-09938-8.
  13. Vanyushin BF, Khavinson VKh. Short Biologically Active Peptides as Epigenetic Modulators of Gene Activity. In: Epigenetics — A Different Way of Looking at Genetics. Springer, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27186-6_5.
  14. Linkova NS, Drobintseva AO, Orlova OA, Kuznetsova EP, Polyakova VO, Kvetnoy IM, Khavinson VKh. Peptide regulation of skin fibroblast functions during their aging in vitro. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2016;161(1):175-178. PMID: 27259496.
  15. FDA. Bulk Drug Substances Nominated for Use in Compounding Under Section 503A of the FD&C Act (503A categories list), versions updated April 15, April 22 and May 14, 2026. fda.gov/media/94155/download. Read October 3, 2026. (Notice that 12 peptides would leave Category 2 because their nominations were withdrawn; their removal; GHK-Cu, except injectable, back in Category 1.)
  16. Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG, Malinin VV, Grigoriev EI. Tetrapeptide stimulating functional activity of neurons, pharmacological agent based thereon and method of use thereof. US Patent 7,189,701 B1; March 13, 2007 (from Russian patent RU 2155063 C1, filed October 20, 1999). patents.google.com/patent/US7189701B1. Read October 4, 2026. (The developers' patent on Cortagen, L-Ala-L-Glu-L-Asp-L-Pro.)
  17. RLS (Register of Medicines of Russia). Cortexin, lyophilizate for intramuscular injection, 5 mg and 10 mg: prescribing information. rlsnet.ru/drugs/korteksin-11698. Updated September 21, 2026. Read October 4, 2026. (In Russian; maker GEROPHARM, St. Petersburg.)
  18. World Anti-Doping Agency. Prohibited List 2026 (in effect January 1, 2026). S0, Non-approved substances. wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/2026list_en_final_clean_september_2025.pdf. Read October 3, 2026.
  19. Searches of October 12, 2026 for a maker’s figure for Cortagen capsules: the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology’s catalogue of its synthetic peptides (Cytogens), sold as capsules and sublingual solutions, which lists seven products, Cortagen not among them (gerontology.ru/cytogens); and web searches in Russian and English, which found research-chemical vials and dosing pages that name no maker.
  20. A Russian research-chemical seller’s listing of its own-brand Cortagen capsules, read October 13, 2026: 100 to a pack, made in China, to be kept dry below 25°C and out of direct sunlight, with no amount of peptide per capsule stated, labeled, like every product the seller lists, for research use only and “not a medicine or a BAD” (dietary supplement). The seller is not named: Kalios doesn’t name or link vendors.

Also for sleep & focus

Tested together in people

None published · Read the receipt →

See every change to this page → · Status now →

Checked 18 Oct 2026