MOTS-c vs Selank
Sold as a way to get the benefits of exercise without training. Mice given it stayed lean and ran longer, but it has not been tested in people. It is sold as a nose spray to calm anxiety and sharpen focus. The only trial, in Russia, had 62 patients and no placebo group, so it proves little.
Selank has the stronger evidence, grade B (some human evidence) against grade C for MOTS-c. Neither is FDA approved.
Evidence
CAnimal and cell studies
BSome human evidence
Human studies cited
Animal or cell studies cited
Why the grade
The efficacy data are in mice: the 2015 discovery paper showing protection from diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance, and a 2021 paper showing better physical performance in young and old mice. The only human data measure the body's own MOTS-c rising in muscle and blood after exercise. No human has received MOTS-c in a published trial, so C.
There is one small controlled comparison in 62 patients with generalized anxiety disorder or neurasthenia, published in Russian without a placebo arm, plus a cytokine study in a subset of patients and two animal or in vitro studies on GABA and NMDA receptor binding. One controlled human trial meets the letter of B, but it is tiny, the abstract reports neither randomization nor blinding, and it has never been replicated outside Russia.
FDA
Not approved
Not approved by the FDA for any use and sold as a research chemical. MOTS-c was placed in Category 2 (significant safety risk) in 2023; the nomination was withdrawn, the FDA removed it from that category in April 2026, and the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted in July 2026 to recommend it for the compounding list. On 28 October 2026 HHS issued an enforcement discretion policy covering injectable MOTS-c acetate compounded by licensed pharmacies and physicians for named patients under sourcing, testing, labeling and reporting conditions. That is not an approval. It is also on the 2026 WADA Prohibited List.
Not approved
Selank is not approved by the FDA for any use and is sold in the United States as a research chemical. It is registered as a prescription anxiolytic in Russia. It is not on the FDA's list of substances pharmacies may compound, and it was not among the peptides the FDA's compounding advisory committee reviewed in July 2026.
Sold for
MOTS-c is sold as an 'exercise mimetic', a mitochondrial peptide said to burn fat, improve insulin sensitivity, and boost endurance the way training does.
Selank is sold as a nasal spray that calms anxiety without the sedation or dependence of benzodiazepines and sharpens focus at the same time.
Studies say
Mice given MOTS-c resisted obesity and ran longer, and humans make more of it after exercise, but no trial has given it to people, so the evidence is grade C.
A single 62-patient Russian trial found anxiety relief comparable to a benzodiazepine, and animal work points to GABA and NMDA receptor effects, but there is no placebo-controlled human trial, so the claims rest on thin evidence.
Class
Mitochondrial-derived peptide
Anxiolytic peptide (Russian)
Route
Injection
Nasal