The CEO performance stack

The CEO performance stack is a name sellers give to semax, selank, NAD+ and MOTS-c sold as a set. The pitch gives each compound a role: semax for the brain, selank for stress, NAD+ for cellular energy and MOTS-c for metabolism.

The four are different kinds of molecule. Semax (Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro) and selank (Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro) are synthetic seven-amino-acid peptides from Moscow research groups. ^[11] MOTS-c is a 16-amino-acid peptide encoded in the 12S rRNA gene of mitochondrial DNA. ^[6] NAD+ is a coenzyme with no amino acids at all, so "peptide stack" fits three of the four. ^[12]

In our catalogue a stack means one vial that holds more than one compound. Peptides Collective sells no combined vial of these four. Semax in 10mg vials and the other three each come in their own vial, under their own batch number.

Most of the stack's claims trace to rat, mouse and cell studies, and a few trace to small patient studies in Russia. None traces to a study of healthy working adults, and none to a study of the four together. Here is each claim topic against the closest primary record we found.

Two patterns run through the table. The mechanism claims come from rats, mice, membranes and review articles. And the human studies enrolled patients with a diagnosis: people recovering from a stroke, people with anxiety disorders. A hospital result in a diagnosed group is a different question from what a compound does in a healthy adult with a heavy workload. We found no study of that second question for any of the four.

The NAD+ rows need one more step. NAD+ carries electrons in cellular energy metabolism. ^[12] Whether NAD+ from a vial changes that in a person is a separate question, and the 2026 systematic review found no outcome trial of NAD+ itself to answer it. ^[9]

Semax research is mostly rat and cell work from Moscow, plus a few small Russian studies in stroke patients. It is an analogue of an ACTH fragment, 813.9 g/mol, CAS 80714-61-0. ^[19][4]

The human record rests on three studies:

• 1997, 30 stroke patients. Semax was added to combined intensive therapy in the acute period of hemispheric ischaemic stroke. A control group of 80 patients received conventional therapy. ^[7]
• 2018, 110 stroke patients. Patients in early and late rehabilitation were split into subgroups with and without semax. Plasma BDNF rose in the semax subgroups. ^[13]
• 2020, 52 healthy participants. Semax, selank or placebo, with resting-state fMRI before and after. The study measured brain connectivity between the right amygdala and the right temporal cortex. ^[14]

The laboratory work adds a second mechanism. In human serum, semax inhibited enkephalin-degrading enzymes with an IC50 of 10 µM. ^[11] A Belgian medicines laboratory that found semax and selank in seized preparations wrote in 2020 that, to its knowledge, neither had completed any clinical trials. ^[20] The stroke studies above appear in a Russian journal and compare semax with usual care.

Selank research is rodent, cell and serum work plus a few small Russian clinical studies in anxiety disorders. Selank is 751.9 g/mol, CAS 129954-34-3. ^[21] It is an analogue of tuftsin (Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg), a peptide with immune activity, extended with Pro-Gly-Pro. ^[15][22]

Two mechanisms appear in its literature. Selank inhibited enkephalin-degrading enzymes in human serum with an IC50 of 20 µM. ^[11] A 2018 binding study reported that it modulates GABA binding and blocks the modulating effect of diazepam and olanzapine. ^[5]

The clinical studies are small and compare selank with established anxiety drugs:

• 2008, 62 patients with generalised anxiety disorder or neurasthenia: 30 received selank and 32 received medazepam. ^[8]
• 2015, 70 patients with anxiety disorders: 40 received selank plus phenazepam and 30 received phenazepam alone. ^[23]

That 2015 study is the only combination study we found in the literature of all four compounds. Its partner compound was the prescription benzodiazepine phenazepam. The full structural and research comparison of the two Moscow peptides is in selank vs semax.

NAD+ has a deep cell and animal literature and a thin human literature for NAD+ itself. It is a coenzyme for redox reactions, central to energy metabolism, and a cofactor for enzymes such as sirtuins, CD38 and PARPs. ^[17] Its electrons pass through glycolysis, beta oxidation and oxidative phosphorylation. ^[12]

Most human trials tested precursors taken by mouth. A 2026 systematic review found 113 eligible studies from 2010 to October 2025: 33 human intervention studies and 80 rodent studies. Oral nicotinamide riboside and NMN showed biochemical target engagement in people. Effects on functional and metabolic outcomes were heterogeneous and often null. ^[9]

Direct human data on NAD+ are small. In a Sydney pilot, a 6-hour intravenous infusion produced no change in plasma NAD+ for the first 2 hours, and NAD+ appeared in urine by 6 hours. ^[24] A 2026 narrative review describes the intravenous evidence as mostly small uncontrolled studies, observational work and case reports. ^[25]

Even the starting premise is contested. A 2021 review states that tissue NAD+ declines with age in rodents and humans. ^[17] The 2026 narrative review reports large-scale human data showing that whole-blood NAD+ does not decline with healthy ageing as such. ^[25]

MOTS-c research is cell and mouse work plus human studies that measure the MOTS-c people already make. A University of Southern California group described the peptide in 2015 and reported insulin findings in mice. ^[6] USADA states that no completed human clinical trials of MOTS-c exist. ^[26]

The human record has three parts:

• Natural levels. In a randomised study of 30 people, circulating MOTS-c showed a trend to rise after endurance exercise. ^[27]
• Assays that disagree. An anti-doping lab built a mass spectrometry test validated to WADA's laboratory standard. It could not confirm the 45.9 to 218.5 ng/mL that a commercial immunoassay reported in 20 healthy people. ^[28]
• One analogue trial. CB4211, a MOTS-c analogue from CohBar, went through a randomised, placebo-controlled phase 1 study with 88 participants. It completed on 19 April 2021 and the registry shows no posted results. ^[10]

A 2023 review states that no effective method of applying MOTS-c in the clinic has been developed. ^[29] Our MOTS-c research overview covers the mechanism papers and the conflicts of interest behind them.

No published study we found has tested any two of these compounds together. We searched PubMed titles and abstracts pair by pair on 29 September 2026 and read every abstract that named two of the four. ^[1]

The search terms were semax; selank or selanc; MOTS-c or its full name; and NAD, NAD+ or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, each in the title or abstract. A title-and-abstract search misses Russian papers PubMed does not index and details that sit only in full texts. Within PubMed, the combination literature is empty.

Stacking claims for people are unsupported because the four compounds have no combination data and each has a thin human record. Peptides Collective describes the research on each compound and recommends no combination for anyone. Four gaps make the case.

1. No combination study exists. The pairwise search above found none, and a 2026 review that discusses semax and selank among other peptides concludes there is a current lack of clinical trials. ^[33]
2. The evidence sits in other populations. The mechanism work is in rats, mice and cells. The human studies enrolled stroke patients and people with anxiety disorders.
3. Interactions are unmeasured, and the one measured case behaved unlike either part. Semax and selank inhibit the same enzymes in human serum. ^[11] In the selank binding study, selank given with some benzodiazepines changed GABA binding in a specific way. The authors describe the joint effect as not cumulative and different from either substance alone. ^[5] In that experiment, the separate effects did not simply add up.
4. The trial that could answer it has never been run. Testing each of four compounds on and off in every combination takes 16 groups (2 x 2 x 2 x 2). No trial of even one pair exists.

Product quality is a separate question. Sport Integrity Australia warns that unapproved peptide products can vary widely in purity and composition. ^[34] Four vials mean four identity questions, and each one needs its own certificate.

The published adverse-event record for all four compounds is sparse, and no study reports on the combination. Here is what each literature holds.

• Semax. The semax abstracts we read report no adverse-event rates.
• Selank. In the 2015 study of 70 patients, adding selank was reported to reduce phenazepam's undesirable effects on the UKU scale. The abstract gives no separate rate for selank. ^[23]
• NAD+. The 2026 narrative review lists nausea, cramping, flushing and chest discomfort among reported effects of intravenous NAD+, and states that long-term safety data are lacking. ^[25]
• MOTS-c. No published study has given MOTS-c to people. USADA reports unverified accounts from people who say they bought it online, including increased heart rate or palpitations, insomnia, immune reactions and fever. It adds that no data exist on long-term use. ^[26]

These records give no basis for a tolerability conclusion about any of the four, alone or together.

None of the four is named in the June 2026 Poisons Standard, and MOTS-c is the only one named on the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. We checked each against the Poisons Standard instrument (F2026L00633, in force from 1 June 2026) and the List (effective 1 January 2026) on 29 September 2026. ^[3][2]

"Not named" is a narrow statement. It means a compound has no schedule of its own, and it leaves state law, import rules and therapeutic goods law in place. Our guide to Australian peptide law and the Poisons Standard explains how those rules fit together.

For sport, the WADA details matter. S4.4.1 names MOTS-c among activators of AMPK. Class S0 prohibits at all times any pharmacological substance with no current approval by a governmental health authority for human therapeutic use, and we have not verified the approval status of semax or selank. Method M2.2 prohibits intravenous infusions of more than a total of 100 mL per 12-hour period, except those received in hospital treatment, surgical procedures or clinical diagnostic investigations. ^[2] Sport Integrity Australia states that possession or use of prohibited peptide products can lead to an anti-doping rule violation and a ban. ^[34]

Check each vial against its own batch certificate. An independent lab tests every batch before sale, for purity by HPLC and identity by mass spectrometry. We publish the certificate under the batch number printed on the vial, and you can search the certificate library by that number.

The Selank 10mg product page, the NAD+ 500mg product page and the MOTS-c 10mg product page each link the certificate for the batch on sale, as the semax page does. Compare the identity result with the published values:

We checked each value against PubChem on 29 September 2026. ^{[19][21][36][37]} The four masses sit far apart, so a mass spectrum tells the compounds apart. Net peptide content applies to the three peptides and not to NAD+, which is a nucleotide. Our guide on how to read a peptide certificate of analysis explains the HPLC trace, the mass spectrum and net peptide content.

The CEO performance stack joins four compounds that no published study has tested together. Semax and selank rest on animal work and small Russian patient studies, NAD+ on cell and animal work plus small intravenous studies, and MOTS-c on mouse work with no human trial of the peptide itself. None is named in the June 2026 Poisons Standard, and WADA prohibits MOTS-c at all times. For each vial, the batch certificate is the evidence of what is inside.