Is NMNH legal in the United Kingdom?

Raises NAD in cells and mouse tissue faster and higher than NMN, through a pathway that needs neither NRK nor NAMPT. In the same experiments it inhibited glycolysis and the TCA cycle, induced cell cycle arrest and suppressed cell growth in vitro, and no human has been given it in a published trial.

NMNH is the reduced form of NMN and it is the most interesting molecule in this batch, for reasons that cut in both directions. Two groups synthesised it independently and published within weeks of each other in 2021.

Mechanism: NMNH is adenylylated directly by NMNAT enzymes to NADH, which then enters the NAD pool. This bypasses NAMPT, the rate-limiting salvage enzyme that nicotinamide depends on, and also bypasses the NRK kinases that NR depends on, which is why it outperforms both in cells.

Regulatory history: Not an approved drug and not an established dietary ingredient in the United States. Unlike NMN, which has a documented and contested regulatory history, NMNH has no FDA determination of any kind because it has not been the subject of one.

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 NMNH 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.