Is Rilmenidine legal in Australia?

A European blood pressure drug that extends lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans through the nischarin receptor. In mammals the record is worse than neutral: it induced autophagy as designed in two mouse models of motor neuron disease and made both of them worse.

Rilmenidine is a centrally acting antihypertensive that works through the I1-imidazoline receptor. It entered geroscience sideways, through a screen for compounds whose gene expression signature resembles caloric restriction, and it came out near the top.

Mechanism: Agonist at the I1-imidazoline receptor, with weaker alpha-2 adrenoceptor activity than clonidine, which is why it lowers blood pressure with less sedation. The geroscience mechanism proposed is induction of mTOR-independent autophagy plus a transcriptional state resembling caloric restriction.

Regulatory history: Not approved in the United States. Rilmenidine is a Servier product licensed as an antihypertensive in France and several other European markets under the names Hyperium, Tenaxum, Albarel and Iterium.

Registers or lists therapeutic goods on the ARTG and schedules substances in the Poisons Standard. Many peptides are Schedule 4 (prescription only), so possession without a prescription and personal importation are restricted even when no product is registered.

The classification above is the The Longevity Archive reading of Therapeutic Goods Administration listings for Rilmenidine 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.