Is Cotadutide legal in the United Kingdom?

A once-daily GLP-1 and glucagon dual agonist that AstraZeneca stopped developing in 2023 for what its own registry entries call strategic pipeline considerations, not safety. It leaves a randomised human record of more than a thousand people across phase 2 trials in type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and biopsy-proven MASH, and it never reached phase 3.

Cotadutide is a synthetic peptide with balanced agonist activity at the GLP-1 receptor and the glucagon receptor, given as a daily subcutaneous injection. It was developed by MedImmune and then AstraZeneca as MEDI0382 for type 2 diabetes with obesity, for diabetic kidney disease and for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (now called MASH).

Mechanism: In people, cotadutide's GLP-1 receptor action produces the familiar effects of the class: enhanced insulin secretion after meals, slower gastric emptying and reduced food intake. 3 percent rise on placebo, postprandial insulin rose, and gastric emptying half-time lengthened by about two hours.

Regulatory history: Never approved anywhere. Development discontinued by AstraZeneca in early 2023 for stated strategic pipeline reasons (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05668936 and NCT05517226). No phase 3 was registered.

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 Cotadutide 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.