Quick answer: the only well-described DSIP dosage in people is 25 to 30 nmol/kg by slow IV injection, about 21 to 26 micrograms per kg, given once a night for 1 to 7 nights in small 1980s insomnia studies.[1][2][4] Withdrawal studies used 25 to 35 nmol/kg several times a day.[6][1] No study has tested DSIP injected under the skin, the way it is sold today, so there is no evidence-based injection dose.[1]

DSIP (delta sleep-inducing peptide, also called emideltide) is a 9-amino-acid peptide that is not approved as a medicine anywhere FDA searched.[1] For its history and evidence, see our DSIP profile, the nootropic peptides hub and our comparison of DSIP vs melatonin.

DSIP dosage in human sleep studies

Every sleep study gave DSIP into a vein, in a sleep laboratory, with brain-wave recordings. The doses were set by body weight in nanomoles per kilogram (nmol/kg), a unit researchers use for peptides.

StudyPeopleDose and schedule
Schneider-Helmert, 198618 adults with chronic insomnia, aged 29 to 8330 nmol/kg IV, 6 doses over one week[2]
Schneider-Helmert, 198714 middle-aged adults with chronic insomnia30 nmol/kg IV on 7 nights in a row[3][1]
Monti et al., 19876 adults with severe insomnia (crossover)25 nmol/kg IV on 4 nights, versus placebo[4][1]
Bes et al., 199216 adults with chronic insomnia25 nmol/kg IV in the late afternoon before 3 nights[5]

In earlier Swiss pilot work, FDA’s review describes 25 nmol/kg infused over 4 minutes about an hour before bed, either once or on 4 evenings in a row.[1]

Did the dose work?

  • Swiss studies: sleep improved toward normal values, but these studies compared people with their own baseline or with outside healthy volunteers, not a true placebo group.[2][3][1]
  • Monti et al.: some sleep measures improved, but not significantly more than on placebo nights; the authors judged the benefit “of little clinical significance.”[4]
  • Bes et al.: the effects were weak and may have reflected a chance change in the placebo group.[5]

FDA concluded that the insomnia evidence did not establish that DSIP works.[1]

Older adults

The 1986 study split its 18 participants into middle-aged (29 to 59) and older (60 to 83) groups, and both got the same 30 nmol/kg dose. Older adults started with sleep problems about twice as severe and showed a larger immediate change, but their sleep reached normal values only by the end of the follow-up week.[2] No study tested a different dose by age, and there was no placebo group.

Why infusion speed mattered

DSIP is broken down very fast. FDA cites a plasma half-life of about 8 minutes in humans.[1] Timing also seemed to matter:

  • In healthy volunteers given 25 nmol/kg during the day, infusing it over 7.5 minutes added about an hour of sleep, while infusing it over 1 minute had no effect.[1]
  • The authors judged 4 to 8 minutes to be the best infusion time.[1]

That pattern is one reason a quick shot under the skin cannot be assumed to match the studied effect.

DSIP dosage in withdrawal and pain studies

Outside sleep, DSIP was tried in a few open studies without placebo groups:

  • Alcohol and opiate withdrawal, Geneva, 1984: 107 inpatients got 25 nmol/kg IV when symptoms appeared, up to 6 injections a day for up to 6 days.[6][1]
  • Opioid detoxification, 1998: 7 people got 35 nmol/kg IV on a fixed schedule: 4 to 6 injections on day 1, 4 a day on days 2 to 4, then 2 a day on days 5 to 7. Only 2 completed the full schedule.[7][1]
  • Chronic pain, 1984: 7 people with migraine, headaches, tinnitus or other pain got IV DSIP on 5 days in a row, then 5 more injections every 48 to 72 hours.[10]

Across all published studies, FDA counted 209 people who received IV DSIP, at 25 to 150 nmol/kg, for 1 to 15 days.[1]

DSIP nasal spray dosage

Nasal DSIP is widely sold, but human data are thin. We found one small study: in Ukraine, people with diabetic retinopathy (eye damage from diabetes) received a nasal product called deltalicin providing 0.3 mg of DSIP daily for two months. The study measured eye nerve signals, not sleep.[8]

A Russian preparation called Deltaran combined DSIP with glycine; FDA describes ampoules holding 0.3 mg DSIP and 3 mg glycine.[1] In mice, it was injected at about 100 micrograms per kg on 5 days each month for life,[9] which tells us nothing about a human dose.

DSIP dosage under the skin: what is missing

US clinics and websites sell DSIP mainly as injections under the skin (subcutaneous) and nasal sprays.[1] The pharmacies that nominated it proposed a 1 mg/mL injection.[1] But FDA found:

  • no clinical studies of DSIP given under the skin;
  • no pharmacokinetic data (how the body absorbs and clears it) for that route;
  • no animal toxicity studies to set a safe range.[1]

So any “DSIP dosage chart” for subcutaneous use is a guess, not a trial result. For the risks, see our guide to DSIP side effects.

DSIP has no approved label anywhere FDA looked, so there is no official dose.[1] FDA staff recommended against allowing it in pharmacy compounding, and on July 24, 2026, FDA’s advisers voted 6 to 7, with one abstention, against adding it to the list of substances pharmacies may use.[11] FDA has not issued a final decision. For the wider picture, see the FDA peptide ban in 2026.

Questions to ask a clinician

  • Could my sleep problem be insomnia, sleep apnea or a body-clock disorder, and which has an approved or guideline-backed treatment?
  • Is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) an option for me?
  • If I have used DSIP, how would we watch for side effects such as low blood pressure?
  • How does it interact with my other sleep or sedating medicines?

A clinician sets the treatment and dose for any sleep problem. For other options, see our evidence review of the best peptides for sleep.

This is general information, not medical advice.