Is Acarbose legal in the United Kingdom?

Produced one of the largest male lifespan effects in the mouse programme built to catch false positives, and has almost no human geroscience data at all.

Acarbose blocks the enzymes that break starch into absorbable sugar, so carbohydrate passes further down the gut and the post-meal glucose spike is flattened. It is an old and cheap diabetes drug, and it is the most interesting compound in the NIA Interventions Testing Program that almost nobody outside geroscience discusses.

Mechanism: Competitively inhibits intestinal alpha-glucosidases, slowing the breakdown of complex carbohydrates and blunting the postprandial glucose rise. Undigested carbohydrate reaching the colon is fermented by gut bacteria, which produces the characteristic side effects and may itself contribute to the metabolic effects.

Regulatory history: Approved for type 2 diabetes. The originator US product was discontinued and generics are marketed; the Canadian originator listing was cancelled post-market in 2023 with a generic available.

Licenses medicines for the UK market. A compound without a marketing authorisation is an unlicensed medicine, which can only lawfully be supplied for human use through a prescriber under the specials scheme, not sold as a research product.

The classification above is the The Longevity Archive reading of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency listings for Acarbose at the reviewed date, not a legal opinion. Rules change, and importing, prescribing and possessing a compound can each be treated differently. Check the regulator directly before acting on anything here.