Is Adiponectin legal in the United Kingdom?

The fat hormone that falls as fat mass rises, and the source of a large observational literature. It has never been given to a human, Mendelian randomisation in up to 80,000 people does not support the idea that low adiponectin causes insulin resistance or diabetes, and in older adults higher levels predict higher mortality.

Adiponectin is a 226 amino acid protein secreted by fat cells that circulates at unusually high concentrations as trimers, hexamers and high molecular weight multimers. Unlike almost every other adipokine, its level falls as fat mass rises, and low adiponectin is strongly correlated with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in cross-sectional and cohort studies.

Mechanism: Established in mice and in vitro: adiponectin binds AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, seven-transmembrane receptors with the opposite orientation to G protein-coupled receptors, and T-cadherin. AdipoR1 signals mainly through AMPK and AdipoR2 through PPAR-alpha, increasing fatty acid oxidation in muscle and liver and improving insulin sensitivity; the high molecular weight multimer is the form most often reported as active.

Regulatory history: Not FDA-approved. No adiponectin product and no adiponectin receptor agonist is approved or has entered registered human trials. AdipoRon has no human data.

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 Adiponectin 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.