Phenylpiracetam, with the international name fonturacetam and also known as carphedon, is a piracetam derivative with an added phenyl ring. In Russia it is a prescription drug sold as Phenotropil and under several other brand names, for conditions such as asthenia (persistent fatigue and low mental energy), cognitive problems after brain injury or stroke, and fatigue under extreme working conditions (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia).

Outside Russia it is not an approved medicine. It is not approved for human use in the United States, and no health authority in the EU or Australia has authorized it (Cohen et al., Neurol Clin Pract 2021; Vanhee et al., J Xenobiot 2025). It is still sold online as a “nootropic,” and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lists it by name as a prohibited stimulant. Most of the human research is published in Russian, comes from uncontrolled or small studies, and is available to non-Russian readers only as short abstracts.

This page summarizes what the Russian product label, the published studies and regulators report. It is for education only and is not medical advice.

Property	Detail
Drug class	Racetam (pyrrolidone) derivative; Russian label classes it as a nootropic, ATC N06BX (other psychostimulants and nootropics)
Other names	Fonturacetam (INN), 4-phenylpiracetam, carphedon
Brands	Phenotropil (Valenta, Russia); Actitropil and other Russian generics
Route and strengths	Oral tablets, 50 mg and 100 mg (Russia)
Labeled adult dose (Russia)	Average 250 mg/day (range 200–300 mg), maximum 750 mg/day
Half-life	3–5 h, according to the Russian label; no peer-reviewed English-language human pharmacokinetic study found
Key mechanism fact	Both enantiomers inhibit the dopamine transporter in lab and animal studies
Approval status	Prescription drug in Russia; not approved in the US, EU or Australia
WADA status	Prohibited in competition; S6.A non-Specified stimulant (2026 list)

What it is

Phenylpiracetam is 2-(2-oxo-4-phenylpyrrolidin-1-yl)acetamide, formula C₁₂H₁₄N₂O₂, molecular weight 218.25 g/mol (PubChem CID 132441). It is piracetam with a phenyl ring attached at position 4 of the pyrrolidone ring. That carbon is a chiral center, so the drug exists as two mirror-image forms (R and S). Phenotropil is sold as the racemic mixture, a 1:1 blend of both (Zvejniece et al., Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2011).

It was first described in the Soviet literature in 1983 as a “new phenyl analog of piracetam.” In that early pharmacology study it activated behavior more strongly than piracetam, reversed the sedative effect of diazepam and had anticonvulsant activity. At high doses it produced sedating (“psychodepressant”) effects (Bobkov et al., Biull Eksp Biol Med 1983). A 2010 review of piracetam-like drugs described it as more potent than piracetam and used for a wider range of indications (Malykh and Sadaie, Drugs 2010).

Related compounds in the library: piracetam (the parent drug) and noopept (omberacetam, another Russian nootropic) share the “racetam” marketing label but differ in structure and pharmacology. Modafinil is a different chemical class that also acts on the dopamine transporter and is also a WADA S6.A stimulant.

Mechanism: a dopamine reuptake inhibitor

The Russian label states that the drug raises brain levels of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin and does not bind GABA-A or GABA-B receptors (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia). Independent lab and animal research points to the dopamine transporter (DAT), the same protein that methylphenidate and modafinil block:

Form	Finding	Source
R-phenylpiracetam (tested by Merz as MRZ-9547)	Selective DAT inhibitor in vitro; moderately raised striatal dopamine in rat microdialysis; made rats work harder for food rewards than methylphenidate, modafinil or d-amphetamine did	Sommer et al., Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2014
R-phenylpiracetam	DAT was the only significant target in a radioligand binding screen	Zvejniece et al., Inflammopharmacology 2020
S-phenylpiracetam	Selective DAT inhibitor; reduced weight gain in obese mice and rats without raising locomotor activity	Zvejniece et al., Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2017
Racemate and both enantiomers (mice)	Both forms increased locomotor activity and had antidepressant-like effects; only the R-form improved memory in a passive-avoidance test	Zvejniece et al., Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2011

Merz studied MRZ-9547, chemically the R-enantiomer, in rat models of Parkinson’s disease (Dekundy et al., J Neural Transm 2015). All of these results come from cell assays and rodents. They explain why the drug acts as a stimulant, but they do not show what dose produces which effect in people.

Pharmacokinetics

The only human pharmacokinetic figures we could find are those in the Russian label. We found no peer-reviewed English-language study that reports them, so treat these as manufacturer-reported values (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia):

Parameter	Value stated in the Russian label
Oral bioavailability	100%
Time to peak blood level	1 h
Metabolism	Not metabolized; excreted unchanged
Half-life	3–5 h
Elimination	About 40% in urine; about 60% in bile and sweat
Brain entry	Crosses the blood–brain barrier easily

Because the parent drug is excreted unchanged, anti-doping laboratories test for phenylpiracetam itself in urine. A 1999 method from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology detected it down to 0.01 µg/mL (Kim et al., Analyst 1999).

Regulatory status

Russia

Phenotropil is registered in Russia as a prescription-only medicine. The current registration is held by Valenta, and Vidal Russia lists several other Russian fonturacetam products, including Actitropil (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia). Indications on the Russian label for adults (18 and older) include:

central nervous system disorders linked to vascular disease, metabolic disturbances or intoxication, including after brain trauma and in chronic cerebrovascular insufficiency, with impaired memory, thinking or physical activity;
neurotic states with lethargy, fatigability, reduced psychomotor activity and poor attention or memory;
learning difficulties;
obesity of dietary-constitutional origin;
prevention of hypoxia, higher stress resistance, and preventing fatigue and raising mental and physical performance and wakefulness under extreme working conditions;
chronic alcoholism, to reduce asthenia and cognitive problems.

Labeled dosing (Russia)	Amount
Average single dose	150 mg (range 100–250 mg)
Average daily dose	250 mg (range 200–300 mg), usually split into two doses
Maximum daily dose	750 mg
Course length	2 weeks to 3 months; average 30 days
Timing	After meals; not later than 3 p.m.

United States, EU and Australia

Phenylpiracetam is not an approved drug in the US (Cohen et al., Neurol Clin Pract 2021). A 2025 surveillance study by 12 official medicines control laboratories in Europe and Australia classed it as a piracetam homologue “not authorised for human use” by any health authority in the EU or Australia (Vanhee et al., J Xenobiot 2025).

What the research shows

What kind of evidence exists

Almost all clinical studies are Russian-language papers in Russian journals, most of them in the Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova. Many PubMed records have only a short abstract or no abstract at all. Most studies are open-label, compare patients before and after treatment, or use a comparison group that did not get a placebo. Only one double-blind, placebo-controlled trial appears in the abstracts we reviewed. We found no published controlled trial of phenylpiracetam in healthy adults, and none on athletic performance.

Asthenia (fatigue syndromes)

Asthenia is the most-studied use. A 2025 meta-analysis pooled 11 studies with 549 patients who all took 200 mg/day for one month (Devlikamova and Safina, Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr 2025):

Outcome	Result
Fatigue score (MFI-20 scale) after 30 days	Fell by 16.3 points on average (95% CI 8.85–23.85)
Side effects	5.5% of patients on average; described as transient

The abstract reports the fall in fatigue scores from before to after treatment. It does not report a placebo-controlled difference, so part of the improvement may reflect natural recovery or placebo response. A non-interventional program (TRIUMPH) followed 1,170 patients aged 45–65 with chronic brain ischemia who took 100 mg/day for 2–3 months. Fatigue scores fell by more than half at 3 months, but there was no control group (Fedin et al., Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr 2014).

Epilepsy, stroke and brain injury

Study	Design and n	Dose	Reported result
Grebeniuk et al., 2014	Double-blind, placebo-controlled RCT; 90 adults with focal epilepsy on standard antiepileptic drugs	100 or 200 mg/day add-on	Fewer seizures and better cognitive scores in patients without epileptiform EEG changes
Bel’skaia et al., 2007	Add-on vs antiepileptic drugs alone; 31 vs 30 patients	100 mg/day for 2 months	Fewer seizures and fewer epileptiform EEG changes
Koval’chuk et al., 2010	400 ischemic stroke patients, 200 given phenylpiracetam in rehabilitation	400 mg/day, 3 courses over 1 year	Better recovery of neurological function and daily living (p under 0.0001)
Savchenko et al., 2005	99 patients with encephalopathy after stroke, brain trauma or glioma surgery; no control group described	200 mg/day for 1 month	Improvements in movement, memory, attention and mood
Medvedev et al., 2014	Open study in cardiovascular patients with mild neurotic or depressive disorders; 35 vs 35	12 weeks	Comparator drug did better on several measures; phenylpiracetam’s anti-anxiety effect weakened after 4–8 weeks

The abstracts do not give randomization details, effect sizes or dropout rates for most of these studies. None has been replicated outside Russia.

Cognitive enhancement in healthy people

There are no published controlled trials of phenylpiracetam for memory, focus or performance in healthy adults. Claims about “smart drug” effects rest on the Russian label, patient studies like those above, and animal data.

Side effects and risks

Label-reported adverse effects

The Russian label lists these adverse effects, all with unknown frequency (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia):

insomnia, when taken later than 3 p.m.;
psychomotor agitation (restlessness);
raised blood pressure;
skin flushing and a feeling of warmth.

The label says the last three are possible in the first 1–3 days. It also warns that in people exhausted by chronic stress, fatigue or insomnia, the first dose can cause a sudden strong need to sleep. The label claims that course use causes no dependence, tolerance or withdrawal, but we found no independent study that tested this.

Psychiatric and cardiovascular cautions

The label advises caution in people with:

severe liver or kidney disease;
severe high blood pressure or atherosclerosis;
a history of panic attacks or acute psychotic states with agitation, because anxiety, panic, hallucinations and delusions may get worse;
allergic reactions to other pyrrolidone nootropics.

Who should not use it

The Russian label lists these contraindications: hypersensitivity to fonturacetam, age under 18, pregnancy and breastfeeding. It notes that there are no randomized trials in pregnant women.

Interactions

According to the label, phenylpiracetam may strengthen the effects of other central nervous system stimulants, antidepressants and nootropics (Phenotropil label, Vidal Russia). The label gives no specific interaction studies.

Quality and contamination

Outside Russia, phenylpiracetam is mostly sold as a “supplement” or research chemical, which means there is no quality control on what a product contains:

Missing from products that list it. US researchers bought 10 cognitive-enhancement supplements in 2019. Phenylpiracetam was listed on some labels but not found in any product, while undeclared drugs such as phenibut and picamilon were found. Of the drug amounts printed on labels, 9 of 12 were inaccurate (Cohen et al., Neurol Clin Pract 2021).
Bulk powder on the illegal market. From 2020 to 2024, European and Australian medicines control laboratories intercepted bulk phenylpiracetam raw material of close to 100% purity, which suggests distribution beyond personal use (Vanhee et al., J Xenobiot 2025).

Anti-doping status

The WADA 2026 Prohibited List names “Fonturacetam [4-phenylpiracetam (carphedon)]” under S6.A, non-Specified stimulants. That means:

it is prohibited in competition (not out of competition);
it is a non-Specified substance. WADA explains that Specified Substances are those “more likely to have been consumed or used by an Athlete for a purpose other than the enhancement of sport performance”; S6.A stimulants such as phenylpiracetam are not in that group.

Phenylpiracetam was the first nootropic prohibited in sport, in 1998 (Jędrejko et al., Drug Test Anal 2023). It has turned up in real doping control: the WADA-accredited Italian laboratory listed carphedon among the stimulants it detected in nearly 100,000 urine samples analyzed from 2000 to 2009 (Strano Rossi and Botrè, J Sports Sci 2011). Because supplement labels can be wrong in both directions, an athlete can also be exposed to prohibited stimulants through a product that does not list them.

Key takeaways

A Russian prescription drug, unapproved elsewhere. Phenotropil is registered in Russia; phenylpiracetam is not approved in the US, EU or Australia.
A stimulant by mechanism. Both enantiomers block the dopamine transporter in lab and animal studies, and WADA classes it as a non-Specified S6.A stimulant, banned in competition.
Thin, mostly Russian-language human evidence. Studies in asthenia, epilepsy and stroke recovery report benefits, but most are uncontrolled and published only as short abstracts. There are no controlled trials in healthy people.
Kinetics come from the label. The Russian label reports a 3–5 h half-life and excretion of the unchanged drug; independent human data are lacking.
Label warnings center on stimulation. Insomnia, agitation and raised blood pressure, with caution in panic disorder, psychosis and severe hypertension.
Supplement products are unreliable. Products listing phenylpiracetam may not contain it and may contain other unapproved drugs.

Sources

Valenta. Phenotropil (fonturacetam) tablets 50 mg and 100 mg: instructions for medical use (Russian), registration ЛП-№(008581)-(РГ-RU). Published by Vidal Russia. Vidal.
National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Summary for CID 132441, Phenylpiracetam. PubChem.
World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List: International Standard. In effect January 1, 2026. WADA.
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