Is Supaglutide legal in the United Kingdom?

Approved in China in January 2025 for type 2 diabetes, on the back of two adaptive phase 2b/3 trials in more than 700 adults. Nearly everything indexed under the name supaglutide is monkey and mouse work, because the clinical programme is indexed under efsubaglutide alfa.

This compound is the clearest example on this site of a drug being invisible for reasons that have nothing to do with its evidence. Search PubMed for supaglutide and you get six records: insulin secretion in mouse and human islets, glucose control in diabetic mice, weight and brown fat markers in high fat diet mice, pharmacokinetics in rats and monkeys, glucose homeostasis in diabetic rhesus monkeys, and liver fat in monkeys with spontaneous steatohepatitis.

Mechanism: A recombinant fusion protein in which human GLP-1 is linked to the Fc fragment of human immunoglobulin G2. The Fc domain confers a long circulating half-life through neonatal Fc receptor recycling, the same mechanism dulaglutide uses, rather than through albumin binding by a fatty acid side chain.

Regulatory history: Not approved in the United States. Approved by China's National Medical Products Administration in January 2025 for glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes, under the name efsubaglutide alfa, and included in China's national reimbursement drug list. Not approved for weight management anywhere.

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 Supaglutide 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.