Is Metformin legal in the United Kingdom?

The most discussed drug in longevity, with enormous human safety data and a geroscience record that is consistently null. It also blunts the muscle and fitness gains from training.

Metformin is a first-line diabetes drug taken by tens of millions of people, with sixty years of safety data behind it. Its reputation as an anti-ageing drug rests mainly on one 2014 observational analysis reporting that people taking it outlived non-diabetic controls, a result that two later attempts to replicate found pointing the other way.

Mechanism: Inhibits mitochondrial complex I and activates AMPK, reducing hepatic glucose output and improving insulin sensitivity. The AMPK account is incomplete and the relative contribution of complex I inhibition, mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and gut-mediated effects is actively disputed between research groups.

Regulatory history: FDA approved for type 2 diabetes since 1994. Not approved for ageing or longevity.

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 Metformin 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.