Is o-Vanillin legal in the United States?

A natural cousin of vanillin, the vanilla smell chemical. It cleared worn-out 'zombie' cells from human spinal disc tissue in the lab, and eased pain behaviour in mice with back pain. It has never been given to a person in a study.

o-Vanillin is a chemical cousin of vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its smell. Nearly everything known about it as a senolytic comes from one research program at McGill University.

How it works: o-Vanillin makes zombie cells die while mostly leaving healthy cells alone. Separately, it cuts the inflammatory signals they send out.

Approval history: Not approved as a drug for any use. o-Vanillin is a known chemical. It is used to make flavours and scents, and is sold as a lab chemical. That does not make it an allowed supplement ingredient or an approved medicine. It is not in any registered human trial as a drug to clear worn-out cells.

Approves prescription drugs, each for a named use. It also acts against unapproved products, including peptides sold online. Compounding pharmacies, which mix drugs to order, may make some compounds with a prescription. That only applies when the FDA puts the compound in a category of bulk ingredients it allows.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads U.S. Food and Drug Administration listings for o-Vanillin 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 FDA directly

Whether o-Vanillin is banned in sport is set by the World Anti-Doping Code and by military rules, not by its legal status in the United States. Before you compete or get tested, look up o-Vanillin 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.