Most nootropic users are familiar several smart drugs in the racetam family. Piracetam, aniracetam, oxiracetam, and phenylpiracetam are all popular nootropics with a wide variety of benefits. There’s a lesser-known racetam that has been getting a lot of attention in the nootropics community over the past year or two: fasoracetam. This interesting smart drug can have powerful anxiety-reducing and mood-boosting effects in addition to its ability to improve memory and focus. We’re gonna take a detailed look at fasoracetam. We’ll explore its benefits, common dosages, the best places to buy, potential side effects, and look at the science behind fasoracetam’s safety. But first, let’s go over what fasoracetam is.
What is fasoracetam?
Fasoracetam (aka NS-105, 5-0x0-prolinepiperidinamide) is a nootropic drug and a member of the racetam family, sometimes classified as a research chemical. It’s become mildly popular in the nootropics community for its ability to improve mood and memory, decrease anxiety, and improve focus.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a lot of research done on fasoracetam, especially compared to some of the other racetams. The research that has been done, however, is very promising.
Researchers are currently investigating fasoracetam as a potential treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other cognitive disorders. This isn’t surprising since many fasoracetam users report increased focus and improved learning.
Fasoracetam: Animal Studies and Mechanism
Although this hasn’t been studied in humans yet, fasoracetam has been shown in rat studies that it interacts with the neurotransmitters GABA and acetylcholine. This explains, at least in part, how fasoracetam is able to improve memory and decrease anxiety.
Other animal studies have also shed some light on fasoracetam’s anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects. One study showed that fasoracetam, when taken daily, can up-regulate GABA receptors. This study found an increased concentration of GABA-B receptors in the cerebral cortex of rats given fasoracetam regularly.
Fasoracetam is able to reduce anxiety while improving memory and focus.
GABA (short for gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in humans. It’s known to play a role in anxiety, mood, arousal, sleep, and a number of other things. If fasoracetam up-regulates GABA-B receptors in humans like it does in other animals, this helps to explain its mood-boosting and especially anxiety-reducing properties.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any published human studies that tested fasoracetam’s safety or effectiveness. However, it’s reasonable to assume that fasoracetam is safe when taken at the recommended dosages for two reasons.
Fasoracetam: Safety and Clinical Trials
First, fasoracetam has made it to Phase III clinical trials. These trials only move on to Phase III after completing the first two, which are designed to test the safety of a drug. If the drug isn’t safe, the clinical trial ends. If it is safe, the trial moves into Phase III.
The second reason we can assume fasoracetam’s safety is that thousands of nootropic users have tried it and no serious side effects have been reported. There are hundreds of anecdotal reports around the internet of people using fasoracetam without any ill effects.
Update: A controlled clinical trial in adolescents with ADHD was published in 2018. The participants given fasoracetam showed significant improvement on several metrics compared to those given a placebo. And there was no difference in adverse effects between the participants given fasoracetam and the control group. In other words, this study found fasoracetam to be both safe and effective.
Fasoracetam benefits
As mentioned, fasoracetam’s benefits have not been extensively studied in humans yet. Animal experiments have shown a lot of promise, however. And hundreds of anecdotal reports from around the world seem to suggest that many of the benefits seen in animals also happen in humans.
Here are just some of the benefits of fasoracetam that its users have reported:
- Reduced anxiety
- Improved mood
- Increased focus
- Improved memory
- Improved learning
Fasoracetam dosage
There’s no consensus on what the best fasoracetam dosage is. Some users report a variety of benefits with only 10 milligrams (mg), while others need 100 mg to notice fasoracetam’s effects.
Like all other nootropics, it’s best to start with a low dosage and work your way up as needed. Around 10mg seems to be a good starting point for most people.
Fasoracetam side effects
Fasoracetam seems to be very safe when taken at reasonable dosages for short periods of time. It’s unknown if fasoracetam is safe to take long term (more than a few months). While it probably is, more studies will need to be done to confirm this.
Like the other racetams, fasoracetam may cause minor side effects in some people. These side effects may include upset stomach, nausea, headache, and insomnia. If you experience any of these side effects when taking fasoracetam, they should go away shortly after you stop taking it.
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