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Smart Drugs & Nutrients:

How to Improve Your Memory and Increase Your Intelligence Using the Latest Discoveries In Neuroscience

VOLUME 1 in the Smart Drugs Series

by Ward Dean, M.D. & John Morgenthaler
$12.95 - 224 pages, softcover (Out of Stock)

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Section 4: Nootropics: More Doctors Recommend

Piracetam (Nootropil) | Aniracetam | Fipexide | Oxiracetam | Pramiracetam | Pyroglutamate (PCA) | Vinpocetine (Cavinton)

Pramiracetam

The pharmaceutical firm of Parke Davis has developed a variation of the piracetam molecule called pramiracetam. Pramiracetam enhances the functioning of the cholinergic system in a manner similar to that of piracetam, but it is effective at much lower doses.

In one study, subjects with Alzheimer's disease showed significant intelligence and memory enhancement with only 150mg per day of pramiracetam (Poschel, 1983). Piracetam requires doses of 2.5 to 4.8 grams per day to get the same sort of responses. In other words, pramiracetam is about 15 times more powerful than piracetam.

In some research, pramiracetam has proven more effective than piracetam in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (Branconnier, 1983). Parke Davis is spending a great deal of money to gain FDA approval for selling pramiracetam as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Precautions: Preliminary findings indicate that, like other nootropics, it has little or no toxicity and no or few side effects (DeJong, 1987).

Dosage: 75-1500mg (DeJong, 1987, Itil, 1983).

Sources: As of this writing, we have not found pramiracetam for sale in the U.S. or overseas. When it does become available in other countries, U.S. doctors can legally prescribe it for whatever use they see fit. Other names include: CI‑879.

References:

Branconnier, R. "The Efficacy of the Cerebral Metabolic Enhancers in the Treatment of Senile Dementia." Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 1983, 19(2), pp. 212‑20.

Branconnier, R.J., Cole, J.O., Dessain, E.C., Spera, K.F., Ghazvinian, S., DeVitt, D. "The Therapeutic Efficacy of Prami­racetam in Alzheimer's Disease: Preliminary Observa­tions." Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 1983, 19(4), pp. 726‑30.

DeJong, R. "Safety of Pramiracetam." Current Therapeutic Research. 1987, 41(2), pp. 254‑7.

Murray, C.L., Fibiger, H.C. "The Effect of Pramiracetam (CI‑879) on the Acquisition of a Radial Arm Maze Task." Psychopharmacology. 1986, Vol. 89, pp. 378‑81.

Pelton, R., Pelton, T.C. Mind Food & Smart Pills. New York: Double­day, 1989.

Poschel, B.P.H., Marriott, J.G., Gluckman, M.I. "Pharma­cology Underlying the Cog­nition‑Activating Proper­ties of Pramiracetam (CI‑879)." Psychopharmacolo­gy Bulletin. 1983, Vol. 19, 4, pp. 720‑1.

Turran, M. "Pramiracetam, A New Nootropic: A Controlled Quantitative Pharmaco‑Electroencephalographic Study." Psychophar­macology Bulletin. 1983, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 708‑16.