Is Linaclotide legal in Australia?

In 839 adults with irritable bowel syndrome and constipation, 60 percent had less belly pain on it, against 49 percent on a dummy capsule. It is a small peptide taken by mouth that works without being absorbed, acting only on the gut lining. It is approved for constipation.

Linaclotide is the cleverest design on this page, and the reason is surprising. It is a peptide taken by mouth that works exactly because it is not absorbed.

How it works: Linaclotide is a 14 amino acid peptide that switches on guanylate cyclase-C, a receptor on the inner surface of gut lining cells. It copies two of the body's own gut peptides, guanylin and uroguanylin.

Approval history: FDA-approved as Linzess for adults with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, and for adults with long-term constipation that has no known cause. Also approved for children with constipation that has no physical cause. It carries a boxed warning, the FDA's strongest: do not use it in children under two, because of a risk of serious dehydration.

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 Linaclotide 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 Linaclotide 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 Linaclotide 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.