Is Simvastatin legal in the United Kingdom?

Fed to mice at 12 and 120 ppm from 9 months of age, simvastatin had no effect on survival in either sex. In 20,536 high-risk adults it cut all-cause mortality from 14.7 percent to 12.9 percent over five years. Both results are real and they answer different questions.

Simvastatin is the compound that makes the argument of this batch on its own. The Interventions Testing Program fed it to genetically heterogeneous mice at two concentrations, 12 and 120 ppm, starting at 9 months of age, in the same cohort that produced one of the programme's landmark positives.

Mechanism: A competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, which lowers hepatic cholesterol synthesis and upregulates LDL receptors, clearing LDL from plasma. The same pathway produces isoprenoids used to prenylate small GTPases, which is the basis of the so-called pleiotropic effects, including reduced vascular inflammation, and also the most likely basis of statin-associated muscle symptoms.

Regulatory history: Approved and in wide use for hyperlipidaemia and cardiovascular risk reduction. No approval and no indication relating to ageing or lifespan.

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 Simvastatin 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.