Is Angiotensin II legal in the United Kingdom?

Angiotensin II is the body's main hormone for raising blood pressure. It is approved as a drip for shock, when blood pressure will not hold even on standard drugs. In the main study of 344 people, it raised blood pressure. By day 28, 46 percent on the drug had died, against 54 percent on a dummy drip. That gap was too small to rule out chance.

Angiotensin II is a small hormone, 8 building blocks long. The body cuts it from a bigger protein in two steps, using renin and then ACE.

How it works: In people, angiotensin II docks on the AT1 receptor on blood vessel muscle and squeezes the vessels. It also docks on the adrenal glands and releases aldosterone, which makes the body hold on to salt and water.

Approval history: FDA approved 21 December 2017 (GIAPREZA, NDA 209360) to raise blood pressure in adults in shock from a severe infection (septic shock) or other shock where the blood vessels open too wide. Prescription only, given by drip into a vein. A generic angiotensin II acetate injection was approved 3 June 2025 (ANDA 216966).

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 Angiotensin II 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 Angiotensin II 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 Angiotensin II 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.