Is Cardiac glycosides legal in Australia?

Two 2019 papers said these heart drugs kill worn-out cells in a dish and in mice. Separately, digoxin was tested for heart failure in one of the biggest heart studies ever, in 6,800 people. That study did not look at worn-out cells. These are two different bodies of proof, and one does not carry over to the other.

Cardiac glycosides are old heart drugs. Digoxin is the best known.

How it works: Shown in human cells in a dish and in mice: blocking the cell's salt pump upsets the charge across the cell wall and makes the inside more acidic. Worn-out cells are already partly upset this way, which may be why they die first.

Approval history: Digoxin is an FDA-approved prescription drug for heart failure and atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heartbeat. openFDA, the FDA's public drug database, lists current prescription products plus several discontinued ones. No drug in this family is approved anywhere to clear worn-out cells or for ageing. Ouabain is not sold as a medicine in the United States.

Registers or lists medicines and health products on the ARTG, its official register. It also sorts substances into schedules in the Poisons Standard. Many peptides are Schedule 4 (prescription only). So having them without a prescription, or importing them for yourself, is restricted. That is true even when no product is registered.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Therapeutic Goods Administration listings for Cardiac glycosides 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 TGA directly

Whether Cardiac glycosides is banned in sport is set by the World Anti-Doping Code and by military rules, not by its legal status in Australia. Before you compete or get tested, look up Cardiac glycosides 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.