Is Navitoclax legal in the United Kingdom?

The most-cited senolytic in mice, and the one that cannot be given to healthy people. In its first human trial, 29 of 55 patients with lymphoid cancers had grade 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia, because platelets survive on the same protein whose blockade kills senescent cells.

Navitoclax is an oral small molecule that binds and inhibits the anti-apoptotic proteins BCL-2, BCL-xL and BCL-w. Senescent cells raise these proteins to survive their own pro-apoptotic state, which is why blocking BCL-xL kills them.

Mechanism: Established in human cells and in mice: navitoclax is a BH3 mimetic that occupies the binding groove of BCL-2, BCL-xL and BCL-w, freeing pro-apoptotic BAX and BAK and triggering apoptosis in cells that depend on those proteins. In mice, that dependency is what makes senescent cells selectively vulnerable.

Regulatory history: Not approved for any indication, in any country. Investigational in oncology since 2006. No ageing or senescence indication is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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 Navitoclax 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.