Is Simvastatin legal in Australia?

Mixed into mouse food at two doses from 9 months of age, simvastatin did not change how long mice lived, in males or females. In 20,536 high-risk adults, it cut deaths from any cause from 14.7 percent to 12.9 percent over five years. Both results are real. They answer different questions.

Simvastatin makes the point of this page all by itself. The Interventions Testing Program fed it to mice at two doses, starting at 9 months of age.

How it works: It blocks an enzyme the liver uses to make cholesterol. With less cholesterol being made, the liver pulls more LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, out of the blood.

Approval history: Approved and widely used for high blood fats such as cholesterol, and to lower the risk of heart and blood vessel disease. No approval and no use related to ageing or lifespan.

Registers or lists medicines and health products on the ARTG, its official register. It also sorts substances into schedules in the Poisons Standard. Many peptides are Schedule 4 (prescription only). So having them without a prescription, or importing them for yourself, is restricted. That is true even when no product is registered.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Therapeutic Goods Administration listings for Simvastatin 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 TGA directly

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