Can You Find Concentration in a Bottle?

If you haven't already heard the term nootrope, better jot it down. Chances are you'll hear it a lot in the future. A marriage of the Greek words noos, for "mind," and tropein, for "toward," it refers to drugs that enhance mental performance—popularly known as smart drugs. Nootropes aren't new. Amphetamines, first synthesized by a German chemist in 1887 and used in over-the-counter inhalers by the 1920s, were doled out generously during World War II to Allied and German troops to keep them alert. Military pilots still take dextroamphetamine, or go pills, to stay in fighting form on long missions. But in the post-Viagra era, many neurologists believe—and ethicists fear—that scientific advances and social changes may have set the stage for a new age of cosmetic nootropy.

Indeed, some argue that the era is well under way. There's already a lively market for brain boosters. Herbs and supplements with names like Focusfactor and Brain Quicken clutter health-store shelves and the Internet, often with little scientific basis for their claims. Pill popping in some circles has become as American as SAT-prep classes. Students and professionals in growing numbers are taking potentially addictive stimulants like Ritalin to focus their minds and bolster their memory.

The latest addition to that budding pharmacopoeia is a narcolepsy drug called modafinil that was approved two years ago to help shift workers stay alert. And there's a lot more in the pipeline. Neurologists have made rapid progress unraveling the molecular underpinnings of memory and attention, and drug companies are testing dozens of compounds derived from those discoveries to treat cognitive ailments like Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Memory Pharmaceuticals in Montvale, N.J., for instance, is developing drugs that boost the expression of genes essential to shoring up the connections among neurons—the physical process that is thought to turn immediate experiences into long-term memories. Cortex Pharmaceuticals in Irvine, Calif., meanwhile, is testing compounds that accomplish something similar more indirectly. Those molecules amplify the response of brain chemicals called AMPA receptors, among the first players in a long biochemical cascade that takes place in the neuron as it encodes memory. The first of those ampakine molecules has been shown in a recent study to boost the attention and mental performance of healthy, sleep-deprived men. The more powerful compounds in Cortex's untested arsenal, says CEO Roger Stoll, may bolster long-term memory without inducing the jittery side effects of drugs like Ritalin and caffeine.

Drugs already on the market, notably those that treat Alzheimer's disease, have been shown in small studies to improve the performance of healthy brains, though not by much. (Most of the research to date has been carried out on patients suffering from cognitive deficits.) "It's not like you start out with an IQ of 100 and get an IQ of 140 after taking these drugs," says Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania.