Is Plecanatide legal in Canada?

A constipation pill approved in 2017, for long-term constipation with no known cause and for IBS with constipation. It is a small protein, 16 building blocks long, that copies one the gut makes itself. In its main study, 20.1 percent of people on 3 mg met the bar for lasting relief, against 12.8 percent on a dummy pill. That is 7.3 more people in every hundred. The claim that it is gentler than linaclotide has never been tested head to head.

Plecanatide is a chain of 16 building blocks. It differs by just one from uroguanylin, a hormone your own gut makes.

How it works: It switches on a receptor called guanylate cyclase-C on the inner lining of the gut. That sets off a signal inside the gut cells.

Approval history: FDA-approved on 19 January 2017 under NDA 208745, sold as Trulance. It is for adults with long-term constipation that has no known cause, and for adults with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. It must not be used in children under six, because of the risk of serious dehydration, and it is avoided in children aged six to under 18. Not approved for weight loss, for leaky gut, or for general gut health.

Allows a drug to be sold by issuing a Notice of Compliance and a Drug Identification Number (DIN). A compound that is not allowed for sale cannot legally be sold for use in people. Bringing in prescription drugs for your own use is also limited.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Health Canada, Health Products and Food Branch listings for Plecanatide 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 Health Canada directly

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