Is Tesamorelin legal in the United Kingdom?

An FDA-approved shot that shrinks belly fat, the deep fat around the organs. It is also being studied for memory and thinking in older adults at risk of Alzheimer's.

Tesamorelin is sold as Egrifta. It is approved for people with HIV who have built up fat around the middle, a condition called HIV lipodystrophy.

How it works: It switches on GHRH receptors on the pituitary gland. That makes the gland release growth hormone in natural bursts, and leaves the brain's normal checks on it in place.

Approval history: FDA-approved (Egrifta) to cut extra belly fat in people with HIV who have lipodystrophy

Licenses medicines for sale in the UK. A compound without a licence to be sold (a marketing authorisation) is an unlicensed medicine. The law only lets it reach people through a prescriber, under the specials scheme (unlicensed medicines made for one patient's needs). It cannot be sold as a research product.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency listings for Tesamorelin 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 MHRA directly

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