# NAP / Davunetide

ADNP-derived microtubule-stabilising peptide; safe in a large trial but ineffective.

- Page: https://peprank.xyz/peptides/nap-davunetide
- Category: Neuroprotection & repair (Research peptide)
- Also known as: AL-108; NAPVSIPQ; ADNP fragment
- Routes: Nasal
- Sequence: NAPVSIPQ (unmodified (ADNP-derived))
- Safety tier: Strict: Clean · Balanced: Clean · Evidence only: Clean
- Risk axes (0 none to 3 severe): Seen harm 0, Mechanism 0, Data gap 1, Silent harm 0, Product 2
- Researcher estimate: 2/10 (no graded reports yet)
- Rank: #24 of 61 research peptides
- Evidence: Human RCTs — Phase 2/3 in progressive supranuclear palsy, n=313, 52 weeks: well tolerated, no efficacy
- Access: Grey market
- Onset: Unknown; trials measured effects after 12-52 weeks.
- Lasts: Short half-life; trials dosed it twice daily.
- Cost per month: Unclear; few vendors list it, and trial doses (60 mg/day) would be very costly
- Updated: 2026-10-30

## What users report

Essentially no user reports on Reddit; no meaningful community experience to summarise. Hardly sold by grey-market vendors.

**Effects:** none established in humans

**Downsides:** nasal irritation (trial); no proven benefit

**Caveat:** Clean safety from a large controlled trial, but nobody reports benefit. Listed only for completeness.

**Typical use:** Trial dose 30 mg intranasal twice daily; no community dosing.

**Getting it:** Rarely stocked by research-peptide vendors; never approved, and the trial program ended after the 2014 PSP failure.

## Risk profile

- **Seen harm 0/3:** Three RCTs with over 500 people found no signal: in the 313-patient, 52-week PSP trial SAEs were 54 in each arm and deaths 11 vs 10, with more dropouts for nosebleeds and congestion.
- **Mechanism 0/3:** A microtubule-stabilising fragment of ADNP; no pathway to serious harm has been described.
- **Data gap 1/3:** Controlled trials in over 500 people up to a year long, but it was never approved and development ended in 2014.
- **Silent harm 0/3:** The only harms seen, nasal irritation and nosebleeds, are immediate and obvious.
- **Product 2/3:** Rarely stocked, and then only as a grey-market nasal research peptide.
- **Never if:** Pregnancy or breastfeeding (no human reproductive data)

## Studies

- [Boxer et al. 2014, Lancet Neurology: davunetide in progressive supranuclear palsy, phase 2/3](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24873720/) (rct, n=313, 2014): 52 weeks of 30 mg twice daily did not slow PSP; nosebleeds and nasal discomfort were more common than on placebo.
- [Morimoto et al. 2013: AL-108 for 12 weeks in amnestic mild cognitive impairment](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23594991/) (rct, n=144, 2013): Safe and well tolerated, but it missed the composite memory endpoint, with possible signals on two memory and attention tests.
- [Javitt et al. 2012: davunetide on cognition and functional capacity in schizophrenia](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22169248/) (rct, n=63, 2012): No effect on MATRICS cognition, a modest gain on a functional-capacity test, and no notable side effects.
- [Gozes et al. 2023: sex differences in the davunetide PSP trial (post-hoc reanalysis)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37845254/) (rct, 2023): A sex-stratified reanalysis by the drug's inventor suggests benefit in women only; this is exploratory and unconfirmed.
- [Matsuoka et al. 2008: NAPVSIPQ reduces tau pathology in an Alzheimer's mouse model](https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/325/1/146) (animal, 2008): NAP reduced tau pathology and improved cognition in transgenic mice.

## Sources

- [Boxer et al. 2014, Lancet Neurology: davunetide in PSP phase 2/3](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24873720/)