Synthetic Nootropic
Noopept
Moderate EvidencePhase III and post-registration trials in Russia report cognitive benefit in mild cognitive impairment of cerebrovascular or post-traumatic origin. That is real clinical evidence, but it sits outside the US and EU regulatory systems and does not describe healthy adults. The one such study indexed in PubMed compares noopept with piracetam in patients with mild cognitive disorders after vascular or traumatic brain disease (Neznamov 2009), and only its title is available in English; this page cites no controlled trial in healthy adults. Quality is the second problem. In a laboratory analysis of ten cognition supplements labelled with racetam-type drugs, 9 of 12 declared quantities were wrong and one serving could deliver about four times the typical 10 mg dose of noopept (Cohen 2021). A 2020–2024 surveillance study by 12 official medicines control laboratories in Europe and Australia found noopept among unauthorised nootropics sold as dietary supplements, including large bulk consignments of raw material (Vanhee 2025) — which is what the regulatory status means in practice: nobody is checking what is in the powder. Compared with citicoline and phosphatidylserine, the supplement-grade memory options on this site, noopept has less human evidence and no quality assurance; compared with bacopa, it has no meta-analysis at all. Verdict: an unapproved research compound with a rat-based mechanism and one indexed clinical comparison in brain-injured patients — not a supplement, and not a reasonable first choice for anyone.
Recommended Dose
10–30 mg daily (start at 10 mg)
Timing
Morning, sublingual or with food
Mechanism of Action
Noopept (omberacetam, GVS-111; N-phenylacetyl-L-prolylglycine ethyl ester) is a synthetic dipeptide developed at Moscow's Zakusov Institute of Pharmacology as an analogue of piracetam, although its chemical structure is quite different from the racetams it is grouped with (Araj 2025). In rats it appears to work largely as a prodrug: an hour after injection the parent compound was undetectable in the brain, while cyclo-prolylglycine — identical to a peptide the brain makes itself — rose 2.5-fold (Gudasheva 1997). Rat studies also report anti-amnesic effects after oral doses of 0.5–10 mg/kg (Ostrovskaya 2001) and higher NGF and BDNF expression in the hippocampus (Ostrovskaya 2008). None of this mechanism work has been repeated in people.
Side Effects & Safety
Not a dietary supplement in the eyes of the FDA — omberacetam is an unapproved new drug in the US and is not approved in the EU; read the safety section before anything else. Irritability, headache, or brain fog if choline intake is insufficient. Insomnia if taken late. Not well-studied long-term. Cycle 8 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
Do not use / talk to a doctor first
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding - no adequate human safety data exists
- Any psychiatric or neurological condition, without a doctor's involvement
- Combining with prescribed nootropic, stimulant or antidepressant medication without medical advice
Interactions
Prescribed CNS-active medication generally
No interaction profile has been established in the way an approved drug would require, so nothing here can be ruled in or out. Treat unknown as a reason for caution rather than reassurance
Source: no approved labelling exists
Choline sources
Widely reported in user communities to affect tolerability, and the basis of the headache/brain-fog note above. This is anecdote, not trial evidence, and is flagged as such
Source: anecdotal - not established in trials
Anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs
In rats, noopept and its main metabolite showed anticoagulant, fibrinolytic and (for the metabolite) antiplatelet effects. This has not been studied in people, so the size of any interaction is unknown; treat it as a reason for caution if you take a blood thinner
Source: Ostrovskaia 2002, Eksp Klin Farmakol (PMID 12109290) - animal and in-vitro work
Pregnancy & breastfeeding
No adequate human safety data. Do not use in pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
Who should avoid / see a doctor
Understand what you are buying first. The FDA does not treat omberacetam (Noopept) as a dietary supplement: it has never been approved in the US, is classified as an unapproved new drug, and the agency has issued warning letters to companies selling it as a supplement. It is not approved in the EU either. That means no regulated manufacturing standard, no approved labelling, and no established interaction profile - so anyone pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, or taking prescribed medication should not use it, and everyone else should treat the long-term safety question as genuinely open.
Synergies
Used in These Stacks
See Noopept inside a full protocol — the stack pages cover when and why to combine it.
Best Products
Partner offers
Paid placements. We earn a commission if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you — it does not change what we write. These are the seller’s own products and claims, not ours, and nothing here is medical advice. Speak to a clinician before starting any supplement.
References
- 1.US Food and Drug Administration, Warning Letter to Peak Nootropics LLC — FDA warning letter stating that Noopept Powder is a drug under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because it is intended to affect the structure or function of the body, and is not generally recognized as safe and effective. (regulatory action)
- 2.US Food and Drug Administration, Warning Letter to Crystal Clear Supplements — Further FDA warning letter covering products marketed as dietary supplements that the agency classifies as unapproved new drugs. (regulatory action)
- 3.Gudasheva 1997, Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet — Rats: 1 h after 5 mg/kg intraperitoneal GVS-111 the parent compound was undetectable in brain while cyclo-prolylglycine rose 2.5-fold; formation from GVS-111 by plasma and brain enzymes shown in vitro — evidence that GVS-111 is a prodrug of an endogenous cyclopeptide. (animal study)
- 4.Ostrovskaya 2001, Bull Exp Biol Med — Rats trained on passive and active avoidance: oral GVS-111 (Noopept) retained anti-amnesic activity at 0.5–10 mg/kg. (animal study)
- 5.Ostrovskaya 2008, Bull Exp Biol Med — Rats: Noopept increased NGF and BDNF mRNA expression in the hippocampus after acute dosing, potentiated after 28 days. (animal study)
- 6.Neznamov & Teleshova 2009, Neurosci Behav Physiol — Comparative study of Noopept and piracetam in patients with mild cognitive disorders in organic brain diseases of vascular and traumatic origin. (no English abstract indexed; clinical population, not healthy adults)
- 7.Vanhee 2025, J Xenobiot — Market surveillance by 12 official medicines control laboratories (Europe and Australia), 2020–2024: 159 samples, 34 unauthorised nootropic molecules, most sold as dietary supplements or medicines; noopept, phenylpiracetam and phenibut intercepted as large bulk quantities of raw material.
- 8.Cohen 2021, Neurol Clin Pract — Ten over-the-counter cognition supplements labelled as containing racetam-type drugs, analysed by mass spectrometry: five unapproved drugs detected (including omberacetam), several undeclared and several declared drugs absent; 9 of 12 declared quantities inaccurate; a recommended serving could deliver up to 40.6 mg omberacetam versus a typical 10 mg pharmacological dose. (label accuracy in products sold as supplements)
- 9.Araj 2025, J Pharm Biomed Anal — Physicochemical analysis of N-phenylacetyl-L-prolylglycine ethyl ester (Noopept, GVS-111, omberacetam): grouped with the racetams although its chemical structure is quite different from piracetam.
