Beware a Wave of Fake Brain-Enhancing Pills

Prevagen is hardly alone. Though it's targeting the 59-and-older set who watch cable news, Prevagen is just one of many nootropics on the market, each aimed at a different kind of audience. There's Brain Dust, made by spiritual hippie foodie guru Amanda Chantal Bacon, which targets the Gwyneth Paltrow-admiring Goop set. There's Qualia, made by a group called Neurohacker Collective, that appears targeted at professionals and emphasizes its scientific approach, and Nootrobox, which offers a whole cocktail of different brain enhancers and a complete guide to biohacking—to name just three. As baby boomers hit the age that memory normally starts to fade, and as Silicon Valley pours money into the biohacking fad, the market for chemical cognitive enhancers like these is booming.