Is 17-DMAG legal in the United Kingdom?

In people, it was only ever given into a vein to about 80 people with advanced cancer, in early dose-finding studies. Heart damage, eye damage and one death from the drug set the dose limits, and work on it stopped around 2010. In mice, it failed the NIA lifespan program's standard test. A test that counts early deaths more found a 7 to 9 percent gain in typical male lifespan. It was also one of the first drugs found to clear old worn-out cells, and it kept fast-ageing mice healthier for longer.

17-DMAG (alvespimycin) is a water-soluble cousin of geldanamycin. It blocks HSP90, a helper protein that keeps many cancer-driving proteins stable.

How it works: 17-DMAG plugs the fuel slot of HSP90 and stops it working. Without HSP90, the proteins it looks after, such as CDK4, HER2, AKT and faulty growth enzymes, get broken down by the cell.

Approval history: Investigational, never approved. Early safety studies in cancer finished between 2004 and 2012. A mid-stage study in HER2-positive breast cancer was stopped after 4 patients. No study registered since 2010. The lifespan hint in male mice comes only from a second look at the data using one statistical test (the Gehan test). The result on staying healthy for longer is in mice bred to age too fast.

Licenses medicines for sale in the UK. A compound without a licence to be sold (a marketing authorisation) is an unlicensed medicine. The law only lets it reach people through a prescriber, under the specials scheme (unlicensed medicines made for one patient's needs). It cannot be sold as a research product.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency listings for 17-DMAG on the reviewed date. It is not a legal opinion. Rules change. Bringing a compound into the country, prescribing it and owning it can each be treated differently. Check with the agency before you act on anything here.

Check MHRA directly

Whether 17-DMAG is banned in sport is set by the World Anti-Doping Code and by military rules, not by its legal status in the United Kingdom. Before you compete or get tested, look up 17-DMAG by name on the Prohibited List, or look up a named product in Global DRO. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, category S0 bans, at all times, any drug-like substance that meets two tests. No other section of the List covers it. And no government health regulator anywhere has a current approval for it as a treatment in people. Many substances that are approved somewhere are banned by name in another section. So approval does not mean a substance is allowed in sport.

• WADA Prohibited List
• Global DRO (check a named product)
• USADA (US athletes)
• Operation Supplement Safety (US service members)

The rules you compete or serve under decide this, not this page.