Is GDF11 legal in Australia?

The young blood factor. Two famous 2013 and 2014 papers said it declines with age and rejuvenates. The human assay built to measure it properly found it does not decline, and that higher levels track with frailty.

GDF11 is the compound behind the young blood story. In 2013 a Cell paper identified it as a circulating factor that falls with age and whose restoration reversed age-related cardiac enlargement in mice.

Mechanism: Signals through activin type II receptors and SMAD2/3, the same axis as myostatin, and is more potent than myostatin at inducing SMAD2 phosphorylation in myocardium. That receptor sharing plus the near-identical mature domain is not a curiosity: it is the direct cause of the measurement dispute, because reagents and assays struggle to tell the two apart.

Regulatory history: Not an approved drug. No human trial of GDF11 administration has ever been run.

Registers or lists therapeutic goods on the ARTG and schedules substances in the Poisons Standard. Many peptides are Schedule 4 (prescription only), so possession without a prescription and personal importation are restricted even when no product is registered.

The classification above is the The Longevity Archive reading of Therapeutic Goods Administration listings for GDF11 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.