
E
Tier
Khavinson brain-peptide bioregulator for cognition.
Cognitive & Mood
Peptide
WADA Status:
Not listed
Human Trial Scoreboard
Completed human RCTs
No human studies at all
Largest Human Study
No human studies
Longest exposure
Duration not verified
Most Recent Trial
Year not verified
Description
Pinealon is a three amino acid peptide, glutamate linked to aspartate linked to arginine, from the Khavinson group's bioregulator programme. The theory behind these compounds is that very short peptides can enter cells, bind DNA directly and influence which genes are expressed in specific tissues, with each peptide targeting a particular organ. Pinealon is assigned to the brain. Searches of international trial registries, and of the Russian registry, return no registered controlled trial. There are no published human studies at all, only laboratory and animal work. It is sold as an evidence-based nootropic, and the evidence in question does not include a single person.
What Are The Claims
Claims made for this compound: Theorized to modulate neuronal gene expression (animal); Proposed neuroprotective and cognitive support (animal only)
Evidence
The evidence problem here is structural rather than a matter of one weak study. The human claims for the Khavinson peptide bioregulators rest on a small body of largely non-randomized work published mostly within a single journal family, roughly half of it in Russian and unavailable in English translation. The flagship human mortality finding has never been independently replicated outside Russia. The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's independent review notes that essentially every preclinical and clinical result traces back to Khavinson's own group with no independent confirmation. A 2025 in-vitro study from Brunel University London did independently support the telomerase mechanism in human cell lines, which is genuinely notable, but it is a cell-culture study that replicates no clinical claim and it carried a published figure correction.
Evidence Strength
Animal/preclinical only (Russian literature)
Caveats
No verifiable human trials.
Safety
Alternative Measures
Legal Status
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
EU
Not approved
AU
Not approved
WADA
Not listed
Not approved. Grey-market research chemical from the same Russian peptide-bioregulator lineage as Epitalon.
Citations
Khavinson VK, Morozov VG (2003). Neuro Endocrinology Letters. PMID: 14523363. | Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality independent review. | Brunel University London (2025). Biogerontology. In-vitro telomere study. PMID: 40908429 (figure correction: PMID: 41240216).