Notes from the Field: Phenibut Exposures Reported to Poison Centers - United States, 2009-2019.
Phenibut sends people to US poison centres more than a hundred times a year and has been linked to deaths even when taken alone — is there any reason for me to keep taking it instead of a treatment you can monitor?
Reasonable evidence with real limitations. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Poison-centre data are passive surveillance: exposures are self-reported by callers, are not laboratory-confirmed (phenibut is not detected on routine urine drug screens), and most people who use phenibut never call, so these numbers are a floor, not an incidence rate. Some of the rise after 2015 reflects "phenibut" being added as a searchable term that year.
Phenibut has never been approved by the FDA for any medical use in the United States and is not a lawful dietary supplement ingredient: the FDA has stated that phenibut does not meet the statutory definition of a dietary ingredient, that products listing it as one are misbranded, and it issued
CDC analysis of the National Poison Data System found 1,320 phenibut exposure calls from all 50 states between 2009 and 2019, rising sharply after 2015; 85% came from healthcare facilities and 75.5% involved men, mostly aged 18-34. Coma was reported in 80 cases (6.2%), major effects — life-threatening or causing significant disability — in 12.6%, and three people died; among cases where phenibut was the only substance involved, 10.2% still had major effects and one died.
Worth asking
Phenibut sends people to US poison centres more than a hundred times a year and has been linked to deaths even when taken alone — is there any reason for me to keep taking it instead of a treatment you can monitor?
Source
Notes from the Field: Phenibut Exposures Reported to Poison Centers - United States, 2009-2019. — Graves JM, Dilley J, Kubsad S, Liebelt E. (2020)
Regulator or national health body
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6935a5
DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6935a5
How this was scored
- Study design
- Cross-sectional study / survey
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Regulator or national health body
- Sample size
- 1,320
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "moderate evidence". Reasonable evidence with real limitations. It scores 56 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: Poison-centre data are passive surveillance: exposures are self-reported by callers, are not laboratory-confirmed (phenibut is not detected on routine urine drug screens), and most people who use phenibut never call, so these numbers are a floor, not an incidence rate. Some of the rise after 2015 reflects "phenibut" being added as a searchable term that year. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Notes from the Field: Phenibut Exposures Reported to Poison Centers - United States, 2009-2019. — Graves JM, Dilley J, Kubsad S, Liebelt E. (2020). Published in: Regulator or national health body. DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6935a5. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Cross-sectional study / survey. Funding: Funding not disclosed. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is phenibut, noofen, anvifen, fenibut, beta-phenyl-gaba, 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid, phenygam FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. Phenibut has never been approved by the FDA for any medical use in the United States and is not a lawful dietary supplement ingredient: the FDA has stated that phenibut does not meet the statutory definition of a dietary ingredient, that products listing it as one are misbranded, and it issued
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.