This page shows what was measured, who it was measured in, and what that does not settle.
What Adrafinil does in the body
From there the drug is modafinil: it blocks the dopamine reuptake pump and promotes wakefulness.
Adrafinil is modafinil with an extra oxygen and nitrogen on the end — a hydroxamic acid instead of an amide. Swallowed, it passes through the liver, which strips that group off and releases modafinil into the circulation. Two consequences follow from the extra step. The onset is slower and the amount of modafinil produced is lower and more variable than taking modafinil directly. And the liver has to do the conversion, which is why every serious discussion of chronic adrafinil use returns to hepatic load.
Why people take it. An unscheduled supplement that the body converts into modafinil.
What happened in people
Older French use produced inconsistent results, and a volunteer study confirmed conversion into modafinil.
✓ Reviewed first-read answer
Where this came from
A person wrote this and a reviewer approved it against this exact record. It carries no effect size.
A reviewer approved this against this record. The reviewed-claim record carrying the exact population and effect size does not exist yet.
No source is stored against this line.
The limit that matters most
No modern controlled study has tested wakefulness, thinking or another benefit.
Where it acts
Hepatocytes, where it is converted; then dopamine transporters in the striatum
Kind of result
The kind of result is not recorded
Supervision
Not usually supervised: sold as a supplement or food ingredient where recorded. That is a legal category, not a safety judgement.
What the registries record it as
The supplement label database classes it as other, under the name Adrafinil.
3 registered substances share the start of this name, which is why a search for it can return more than one thing.
FDA substance registry · BI81Z4542G · read 2026-08-29
Where each sentence above came from
A person wrote this explanation into the record, with the studies named in the path below.
A reviewer approved this sentence against this exact record and its sources.
The limit a reviewer approved as the one that matters most here.
The four opening statements run to 122 words.
Words this page uses
Four words worth knowing first
Chosen from what this page shows, with each one explained before the word it depends on.
Biomarker
A biomarker is a number from a test that stands in for something about health.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A biomarker is like a fuel gauge.
Where that stops being true. A gauge is wired to the tank. Many biomarkers are only loosely tied to health.
What people get wrong. A better number is read as a better life. Several medicines improved a number and helped nobody.
A measurable indicator used as a substitute for a clinical outcome of interest.
Placebo
A placebo is a dummy treatment given so the real one can be compared with it.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A placebo is like a blank control in an experiment.
Where that stops being true. A blank does nothing. People given a placebo often do get better.
What people get wrong. A placebo effect is read as imaginary. The improvement is measured and real.
An inactive intervention matched in appearance to the test intervention, used to control for non-specific effects.
Comparator
A comparator is whatever the treatment was measured against.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like the other runner in a race.
Where that stops being true. A race has one winner. A study can show both arms improved.
What people get wrong. Results are read without asking what the other group got. Beating nothing is not beating a treatment.
The control condition against which the experimental intervention is assessed.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What happened in people
Each card is one study: the exact question it asked, who was in it, and whether it showed what it set out to show.
Excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep attacks in narcolepsy
✗ The study did not show it
Who was studied
Jouvet 1977-78 clinical use in narcoleptic patients
How many people
0
Study design
Early clinical prescribing, France
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Described in the historical account as prescribed to narcoleptic patients but without consistent results; the programme subsequently identified modafinil as the active metabolite and developed that instead
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. A study that did not show an effect does not show that no effect exists anywhere.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. No limitation is recorded for this study.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule sold as a dietary supplement; no approved dosage form exists
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Detection of adrafinil and modafinil in beard hair collected ten days after a single dose
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Ameline 2020 single-dose self-administration study for hair interpretation
How many people
1
Study design
Analytical self-administration, one volunteer, 200 mg oral
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Adrafinil 0.8 ng/mg and modafinil 0.5 ng/mg at ten days after one 200 mg dose; the authentic forensic case by contrast showed modafinil at 6.8-13.9 ng/mg with no adrafinil
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. No limitation is recorded for this study.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral capsule sold as a dietary supplement; no approved dosage form exists
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
RNAWiki holds 3 written-up human studies for this substance, each with the question it asked.
How we know it
Each card names the study, the number of people and what the study set out to measure.
What this does not prove
These summaries were written by a person and have not been signed off as reviewed claims.
Why it matters
A study that failed is as informative as one that worked, and both are here.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim exists, so no exact population, effect size or interval is published yet.
What it changes in the body◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
The path through the body
From what a person takes to what changes. A solid line is a step measured in people. A dashed line is a step nobody has measured that way.
Start
Adrafinil
What a person takes: Oral capsule sold as a dietary supplement; no approved dosage form exists.
The measurement behind this step
Capsules sold as nootropic supplements, in doses set by vendors rather than by any regulator. Because the compound must be converted by the liver before it does anything, the delivered dose of active drug is a function of individual hepatic amidase activity and is not knowable from the label.
Getting in
Swallowed as a capsule
It is taken by mouth, typically in capsules sold as a supplement, and the effect takes longer to arrive than modafinil.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Oral administration; the extra hepatic conversion step delays onset relative to modafinil taken directly. No published human pharmacokinetic comparison establishes the modafinil exposure produced by a given adrafinil dose.
Enzymes in the liver remove one oxygen-nitrogen group, and what is left is modafinil.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Hepatic amidase activity hydrolyses the N-hydroxyacetamide to the acetamide, producing modafinil, with parallel conversion to modafinilic acid. This first-pass step is obligatory: the parent compound has no meaningful activity at the dopamine transporter, and the conversion efficiency is the single largest source of dose-response variability.
Modafinil reaches the brain and blocks the dopamine pump
From this point the drug is modafinil, and it does what modafinil does.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
The released modafinil crosses the blood-brain barrier and inhibits dopamine reuptake at the dopamine transporter, with the downstream orexin and histamine effects that produce wakefulness. Nothing after this step is adrafinil pharmacology.
Less active drug arrives than if modafinil had been taken directly, and how much arrives varies between people.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
The measurable output of an adrafinil dose is a modafinil plasma curve whose height and shape depend on individual hepatic amidase activity. In the hair study, a single 200 mg adrafinil dose produced detectable adrafinil at 0.8 ng/mg and modafinil at 0.5 ng/mg at ten days, which fixes the qualitative pattern but not the quantitative yield.
The clinical programme dropped it in favour of the metabolite. What keeps it in circulation is that it is not a controlled substance.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Prescribed to narcoleptic patients from 1977-78 without consistent results, superseded by modafinil which was registered in France in 1992. Today it is unapproved and unscheduled in the United States, present in products sold as nootropic supplements, and prohibited in sport since 2004.
No suggested links are held for this record, so nothing is hidden from this path.
What we know
The record describes 5 steps from taking it to an effect in a person.
How we know it
Each step names the study behind it in the technical detail beside it.
What this does not prove
A change inside the body is a reason to look. It is not a result in a person.
Why it matters
A reader can see exactly where the chain stops being measured in people.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim binds any of these steps to a named population.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Were people like you studied?
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it, and where the result stops carrying.
Who was studied
People similar to this profile were included.
People wanting modafinil without a prescription. It is also the compound that gets a person a positive modafinil result on a doping test or a forensic hair analysis without modafinil ever having been bought.
Who is missing from the studies
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
Where the result stopped carrying
Adrafinil was prescribed for narcolepsy from 1977-78 without consistent results and was not carried forward when its metabolite proved effective
No sponsor has developed adrafinil for any indication in the fifty years since it was identified
This is a scope explorer, not a diagnosis engine.
It shows who was studied so you can see whether people similar to you were included.
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Why it might seem to do nothing
A real effect and a noticed effect are different things. These are the recorded reasons the two come apart.
It was studied in different people
The people in the studies were not much like the reader.
On this record: Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
The evidence may simply be wrong
Small early studies often do not hold up.
On this record: RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
The product may not be what it says
Contents of a sold product are not always what the label states.
On this record: This is sold as a supplement, so no agency checked what is in a given tub before it was sold.
Other reasons RNAWiki checked and found nothing for (10)
It was studied for a different goal
The studies measured something else entirely. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
A different form was studied
The studied form is not the form on the shelf. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
There was nothing to correct
Where a level is already normal, topping it up may change nothing. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else had to happen too
In the studies it was paired with training, a diet or another treatment. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The change is too small to feel
A real change can still sit below what a person notices. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Day-to-day swing hides it
Sleep, food, stress and time of day move most numbers more than this would. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Not enough time yet
The studies ran longer than the person has waited. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
It was not taken as studied
Missed days change the result, and studies count them. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else changed at the same time
Two changes at once cannot be told apart afterwards. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
No recorded reason
RNAWiki has nothing stored that would explain it. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
None of these is a reason to take more. Taking more is not a step this page ever suggests.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What taking it involves
The recorded facts about getting hold of it and using it. Nothing here is a suggestion about what you should do.
How it is supplied
Varies by country
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
Read from the recorded approval status.
No source is stored against this line.
Form and route
Oral capsule sold as a dietary supplement; no approved dosage form exists
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form and route recorded on this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
Who oversees it
Not usually supervised: sold as a supplement or food ingredient where recorded. That is a legal category, not a safety judgement.
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
The identity record classes it as a supplement ingredient; no medicines register records an approval.
No source is stored against this line.
What is in the pack
Capsules sold as nootropic supplements, in doses set by vendors rather than by any regulator.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on how this is sold. The rest of the recorded wording: Because the compound must be converted by the liver before it does anything, the delivered dose of active drug is a function of individual hepatic amidase activity and is not knowable from the label.
No source is stored against this line.
Where it is registered
Regulatory records are listed in the technical disclosure at the foot of this page.
# Counted from records
Where this came from
A count of rows RNAWiki holds. It describes our records, not your body.
Register entries are stored per jurisdiction and shown with their dates.
No source is stored against this line.
Why people stop
Not recorded.
∅ Nothing recorded
Where this came from
RNAWiki holds nothing here and says so rather than guessing.
No record of why people stopped taking it is stored for this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What can go wrong
Sorted by where each line came from. A regulator's label and a report somebody sent in are not the same kind of fact.
·Worth asking a clinician aboutWritten into the record from the studies named on this page
No modern human safety dataset exists for adrafinil itself. The pharmacology after conversion is modafinil pharmacology, and the modafinil label carries warnings for serious rash including Stevens-Johnson syndrome, angioedema and anaphylaxis, multi-organ hypersensitivity, psychiatric symptoms and cardiovascular caution. The additional consideration specific to adrafinil is that it imposes an obligatory hepatic conversion step that modafinil does not, and no published study has characterised what repeated dosing does to liver chemistry in humans.
Nobody counted how many people took this and were fine, so this cannot be turned into a rate.
These are reports people sent to a regulator. They do not show the medicine caused the reaction.
Nobody counted how many people took the medicine and reported nothing.
The same event can be reported more than once, and many reports are incomplete.
News coverage, lawsuits and new warnings change how often people report.
A count is not a rate and not a risk.
Adrafinil appears in spontaneous reports to regulators. Across the 4 most-reported reaction terms, 19 reaction mentions were counted. One report can name several reactions.
The recorded terms (4)
fall — 9 reaction mentions
confusional state — 4 reaction mentions
hypoglycaemia — 3 reaction mentions
orthostatic hypotension — 3 reaction mentions
open-targets-adr · recorded 2026-06-24 · a recorded source, not a stored snapshot
Over a long time. No completed tested study window is recorded, so long-term effects are not established by the registry record.
Groups the studies covered thinly. Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Does the exact form matter?
Evidence belongs to the exact thing that was tested. A different salt, a different mixture or a different preparation is a different question.
The form that was studied
Oral capsule sold as a dietary supplement; no approved dosage form exists
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form used in the studies cited on this page.
No source is stored against this line.
What is sold
A recorded note compares this form with the others that are sold. It is kept below, word for word.
§ A fixed RNAWiki sentence
Where this came from
Wording RNAWiki always uses, not a finding about this substance.
The recorded note, unchanged: Because the compound must be converted by the liver before it does anything, the delivered dose of active drug is a function of individual hepatic amidase activity and is not knowable from the label.
No source is stored against this line.
What is recorded as being sold
5 marketed supplement labels list this ingredient, classed as non-nutrient/non-botanical, other combinations and other.
Those labels carry all other and structure/function claims. A claim of that kind is written by the manufacturer and is not assessed by any regulator, so its presence says nothing about whether it is true.
Evidence carries across two names for one substance. It does not carry across a salt, a mirror form or a mixture.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What you could measure
Watching one thing carefully can tell you whether it moved. It cannot tell you what moved it.
This is sold without a prescription, so a person can sensibly watch one thing and see whether it moves.
Pick one goal. One goal only. Two at once cannot be told apart afterwards.
Pick one thing to watch. No registered study lists a measure RNAWiki could read for this.
Measure before you start. Take the same measurement several times first. One reading is not a starting point.
Know the swing. Write down how much it moves on its own across a normal week.
Change one thing. Change nothing else at the same time, including training and sleep.
Give it the study length. No finished study window is recorded, so no length is suggested here.
Track whether you took it. Missed days are the most common reason a home test shows nothing.
Read the trend. Look at the line across weeks. A single reading tells you almost nothing.
What not to measure
Anything that swings more day to day than the change you are looking for.
A wearable estimate of sleep stages, which is an estimate and not a measurement.
Weight on one morning, which mostly records water.
A feeling you did not write down before starting.
When to stop
Stop if something new and unpleasant starts, and ask a pharmacist or doctor.
Stop if you cannot keep everything else steady, because the result will not mean anything.
Stop at the end of the window you set, and read the trend then.
Tracking can show whether something changed for you. It cannot show what caused it.
RNAWiki does not work out an amount for anyone.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Claims that go past the evidence
Things said about this substance that sound reasonable, and the exact step that is missing between the evidence and the claim.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the modafinil efficacy and cognitive literature quantifies what an adrafinil dose does — no human pharmacokinetic comparison establishes the conversion yield
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That being unscheduled means being safer, when the only difference from a Schedule IV drug is one hepatic conversion step
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the compound has a modern evidence base; the indexed literature contains no randomised controlled trial of adrafinil for any endpoint
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a product labelled adrafinil contains only adrafinil, when three further unscheduled modafinil analogues circulate in the same market
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What nobody knows yet
Open questions, each with why it is open and what would close it.
How much did people take in the studies?
The sources RNAWiki checked hold nothing for this field.
Why it matters. A result belongs to an amount. Without the amount the result floats free.
What would answer it
A stored source that records it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
How fast does the body clear it?
The sources RNAWiki checked hold nothing for this field.
Why it matters. Without this, nothing on this page can say how long anything lasts.
What would answer it
A stored source that records it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing populations
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing long-term data
No completed tested study window is recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
No reviewed conclusion
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing interaction studies
No interaction was found in the registers checked. Not finding one is not the same as showing there is none.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Formulation uncertainty
Several salts, forms or products of Adrafinil are recorded. Results from one form may not transfer to another.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Mechanism not reviewed
No reviewed mechanism story exists for this substance.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Check any of this yourself
Every line above traced back to the study it came from. This is the technical layer, and the vocabulary changes here.
Every line above can be traced to the study named beside it. Follow the link and read it.
The drug was replaced by its own metabolite
In plain words
Adrafinil was prescribed to narcoleptic patients in France from 1977. Studying how it was broken down revealed the active substance was modafinil, and modafinil was registered instead.
What was measured
That adrafinil is a modern nootropic, when it is the abandoned parent compound whose clinical trial history is a record of inconsistent results
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Billiard and Broughton set out the sequence. Adrafinil was identified by L. Lafon Ltd in 1974 and caused a significant dose-dependent increase in motor activity in mice without peripheral sympathomimetic effects. As early as 1977-78 Michel Jouvet prescribed adrafinil to narcoleptic patients, but — in the authors own words — without consistent results. Meanwhile the kinetics of adrafinil led to the identification of an active metabolite, modafinil. In 1983 Jouvet and Bastuji prescribed modafinil to narcoleptic and idiopathic hypersomnia patients and obtained a significant decrease in excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep attacks in a majority. Lafon was initially uninterested in developing it and was persuaded; modafinil was officially registered in France in 1992 and confirmed in North American multicentre trials. Adrafinil was not carried forward. The compound sold today as a nootropic is the version the field discarded, from a programme that discarded it for a documented reason.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
One 200 mg dose puts both compounds in hair for at least ten days
In plain words
A volunteer took a single 200 mg dose. Ten days later, beard hair contained measurable adrafinil and measurable modafinil.
What was measured
Adrafinil and modafinil concentrations in beard hair ten days after a single 200 mg oral dose
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Ameline et al. developed an LC-MS/MS method for adrafinil in hair after a laboratory was asked to test a hair strand from a woman found with vials of adrafinil and suspected of trafficking. In that authentic case modafinil was present at 6.8 to 13.9 ng/mg and adrafinil was not detected. To interpret it, the group ran a controlled self-administration: a single 200 mg oral dose of adrafinil in one volunteer, with beard hair collected ten days later, gave adrafinil at 0.8 ng/mg and modafinil at 0.5 ng/mg. The dual identification after one low dose established the reference pattern, and on that basis the authentic case was interpreted as modafinil abuse rather than adrafinil consumption. WADA prohibited both compounds in sport in 2004.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Found in every supplement tested that claimed to contain it
In plain words
A government food laboratory bought four products marketed as nootropics and labelled to contain adrafinil. All four contained it.
What was measured
Presence of adrafinil in four undercover-purchased products marketed as dietary supplements
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Bakota and Nandrea at the Kansas City Human and Animal Food Laboratory noted that preliminary non-targeted analyses had revealed adrafinil in several dietary supplements, and developed and validated an LC-high-resolution mass spectrometry method quantitating modafinil plus four unscheduled analogues: adrafinil, CRL-40,940, CRL-40,941 and N-methyl-4,4-difluoromodafinil. Applied to four products obtained by undercover purchase and marketed as nootropics or cognitive enhancers labelled to contain adrafinil, all four contained adrafinil. Their framing is the point: modafinil is Schedule IV in the United States while its analogues remain unapproved and unscheduled, and the lack of scheduling has made those analogues a popular target for recreational use and for inclusion in dietary supplements. This is one of the few product-content findings in this file where the label was accurate, and it is not reassuring — the label was accurate about containing an unapproved drug.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Every efficacy claim is borrowed from modafinil
In plain words
There is no modern controlled trial of adrafinil for wakefulness, cognition or anything else. What is cited for it is the modafinil literature.
What was measured
That the measured cognitive and wakefulness effects of modafinil transfer quantitatively to an oral dose of its prodrug
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
A search of the published literature returns analytical chemistry — chiral separation methods, hair and serum assays, thermal degradation artefacts, supplement screening — and historical accounts. It does not return randomised controlled trials of adrafinil in humans for any endpoint. The modern claims made for it are the modafinil claims: the pooled cognitive effect in healthy non-sleep-deprived adults of standardised mean difference 0.12, and the approved wakefulness indications. Those results were obtained with modafinil administered directly. Whether an oral adrafinil dose produces an equivalent modafinil exposure, in whom, and with what variability, is not established by any published human pharmacokinetic comparison.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
It degrades in the instrument, which is how false results are made
In plain words
Analysing these compounds by gas chromatography destroys them in the injector and produces a breakdown product that is not in the sample.
What was measured
Formation of 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethane from modafinil, adrafinil and analogues in a hot GC injector
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Dowling et al. investigated the thermal degradation of modafinil, modafinic acid, adrafinil, CRL-40,940 and CRL-40,941 in a gas chromatography injector and showed the formation of 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethane and its tetrafluoro analogue. Their title — "Outsmarted by nootropics?" — describes the practical hazard: a laboratory that screens a nootropic product by GC-MS may report a compound that was never present and miss the ones that were. This is why the validated supplement method uses liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry, and it is a general warning about analytical results quoted for grey-market products without a stated method.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Legal in the United States, banned in sport since 2004
In plain words
Adrafinil is not a controlled substance in the United States and is not an approved drug there either. In sport it has been prohibited since 2004, and taking it produces a modafinil positive.
What was measured
Regulatory status in the United States and the analytical basis for distinguishing adrafinil from modafinil use
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Adrafinil appears nowhere in the FDA Drugs@FDA database as an approved active ingredient and is not scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act, which is precisely why it is sold in products labelled as dietary supplements. WADA prohibited adrafinil and modafinil in sport in 2004; both fall under class S6, stimulants, prohibited in competition. Because hepatic conversion produces modafinil, an athlete taking adrafinil returns a modafinil finding, and distinguishing the two requires measuring the parent compound alongside the metabolite in the same specimen.
Source
Absence of adrafinil from FDA Drugs@FDA as an approved active ingredient, August 2026; Ameline A et al., Forensic Sci Res 2020;5:322-326 for the 2004 WADA prohibition and the parent-metabolite discrimination
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
verified
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Checks this page had to pass
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Trial roles classified for highlighted evidence
No registered study is classified as testing this substance.
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Safety mode resolved
The identity record classes it as a supplement ingredient; no medicines register records an approval.
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Canonical metadata present
slug and display name present
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What to learn next
Ordered by what would most change how you read this page, starting with what is easiest to misunderstand.
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What is not here
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What was measured, goal by goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
How close this is to real life — found nothing in the sources checked.
Felt, measured, or meaningful — found nothing in the sources checked.
How long anything takes — found nothing in the sources checked.
What it may clash with — found nothing in the sources checked.
Other ways to the same goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
How this medicine reached us — found nothing in the sources checked.
What changed on this page — found nothing in the sources checked.
The record as stored
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The older medicine-wide conclusion held in this record
Written for a clinical reader, and about the medicine as a whole rather than about one indication, population and set of trials. RNAWiki does not treat it as a programme conclusion and no reviewer has signed it off in that form. It is here word for word because it is what the record holds.
A prodrug that the liver turns into modafinil, prescribed in France from 1977 with what its own historians describe as inconsistent results, superseded by the metabolite it produces, and sold today in the United States as a dietary supplement because it was never scheduled.
Recorded evidence blocks (1)
Q1
What do 19 spontaneous reports say about Adrafinil — and not say?
These are reports people sent to a regulator. They do not show the medicine caused the reaction. Nobody counted how many people took the medicine and reported nothing. The same event can be reported more than once, and many reports are incomplete. News coverage, lawsuits and new warnings change how often people report. A count is not a rate and not a risk.
Adrafinil appears in spontaneous reports to regulators. Across the 4 most-reported reaction terms, 19 reaction mentions were counted: fall 9; confusional state 4; hypoglycaemia 3; orthostatic hypotension 3. open-targets-adr · CHEMBL93077 · 2026-06-24
Show the evidence
fall
9
confusional state
4
hypoglycaemia
3
orthostatic hypotension
3
recorded 2026-06-24 · last checked 2026-09-04
Where it is registeredIdentifiers, relations and other names
✗ required summary fields resolved: 5 required field(s) not terminal: Why people use it, Best-supported result, Most important common problem, Biggest unanswered question, Human evidence
✓ public claims reviewed: 0 reviewed claim(s); drafts are never rendered
✓ source coverage passed: 2 source rows
✓ no critical contamination: no quarantine open
✓ canonical metadata passed: slug and display name present
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This is a record of evidence. It is not medical advice, and it does not say this substance suits you. Nothing here says any substance on RNAWiki is appropriate for a child.