Is Cardiac glycosides legal in the United Kingdom?

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.

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 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 MHRA 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 the United Kingdom. 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.