Is Piperlongumine legal in the United Kingdom?

A long pepper alkaloid identified in a 2016 screen as a senolytic in cultured human fibroblasts. Everything published about its senolytic activity is in cells or rats. No human study of piperlongumine for any indication was located.

Piperlongumine is a natural alkaloid amide from the long pepper, Piper longum. It came out of the same cell-based screening programme at the University of Florida that identified ABT-263 as a senolytic: piperlongumine preferentially killed senescent human WI-38 fibroblasts whether senescence had been induced by radiation, by replicative exhaustion or by oncogenic Ras, and it did so by inducing apoptosis without requiring a rise in reactive oxygen species.

Mechanism: Established in cultured human cells: piperlongumine selectively induces apoptosis in senescent fibroblasts, and the alpha,beta-unsaturated lactam acts as a Michael acceptor that is required for the senolytic effect. It synergises with ABT-263 in cell culture.

Regulatory history: Not approved for any indication. No registered human trial located. Sold as a research chemical and present in long pepper extracts marketed as supplements, which is not the same as a characterised dose of the isolated compound.

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 Piperlongumine 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.