Is NAD+ legal in Australia? TGA, FDA and sport rules, checked 14 October 2026

Is NAD+ legal in Australia?

The sources read for this page apply to products, claims and suppliers, so the answer depends on the product and the activity. A text search of the October 2026 Poisons Standard found no individual entry for NAD+ (Federal Register of Legislation, F2026L01327, read 14 October 2026). The TGA says NAD, NAD+ and NADH are currently not permitted ingredients in listed medicines, and that advertising or supplying therapeutic goods that refer to NAD+ is likely a breach of the law when the goods are not in the ARTG nor exempted or otherwise authorised (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026). That is the regulator's position, not a verdict on any person's situation.

The same answer covers the shorter name. The TGA treats NAD, NAD+ and NADH together, so a product called NAD is in the same position as one called NAD+ (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026). NAD+ is not a peptide, so the TGA's peptide guidance is a separate topic.

A missing Schedule entry is not a permission. Are peptides legal in Australia? explains how the Poisons Standard works, why a missing name does not settle what a group heading covers, and why each reading is dated. That page recorded no individual entry for NAD+ on 1 October 2026, and the text search here on 14 October 2026 found the same.

Evidence limits

What does this page not settle?

State and territory law is a separate layer. The Western Australian law page covers Western Australia, and nothing here replaces it.

Later editions of the Poisons Standard or the Permissible Ingredients Determination may differ. The Determination read for this page was made on 12 October 2026, two days before the reading, and it commences on 16 October 2026.

What is the Poisons Standard status of NAD+?

A text search of the registered text of F2026L01327 on 14 October 2026 found no entry in the October 2026 Poisons Standard that names NAD, NAD+, NADH, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, nicotinamide riboside or nicotinamide mononucleotide. The same search found nicotinic acid, a different form of vitamin B3, in the Schedules for human therapeutic use, with nicotinamide excepted from those entries (Federal Register of Legislation). A Schedule entry classifies a named substance, and a missing entry is not a permission. The Peptides and Australian Law page reports the same finding for NAD+ on 1 October 2026.

The Poisons Standard sorts substances into Schedules, including Schedule 2, 'Pharmacy medicines', and Schedule 3, 'Pharmacist only medicines' (F2026L01327, contents list). The text search found no Schedule entry for NAD+ by name, so the Standard as searched gives it no pharmacy-only or pharmacist-only status.

The instrument also holds entries by group. Whether any group heading covers NAD+ is not decided here, which is the same limit the law page states.

Is NAD+ over the counter in Australia?

The TGA says NAD, NAD+ and NADH are currently not permitted ingredients in listed medicines (AUST L medicines), and the text search of the Poisons Standard found no pharmacy-only or pharmacist-only entry for NAD+ (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026; F2026L01327, read 14 October 2026). Related compounds differ. The TGA says NMN is permitted in listed medicines only if stated requirements are met, and nicotinamide riboside chloride is listed with stated conditions in the Permissible Ingredients Determination (No. 3) 2026 (F2026L01382, made 12 October 2026, commencing 16 October 2026), a future instrument that does not establish its status on 14 October 2026.

The TGA alert records requirements for NMN in listed medicines. They include that NMN's purpose is as an active ingredient, that until 10 December 2027 only the named primary sponsor, and secondary sponsors it has authorised and notified to the TGA, may use it, and further requirements on the labelled maximum, the labelled duration and the indicated population (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026). The Determination made on 12 October 2026, which commences on 16 October 2026, carries the same requirements in entry 3493. This page reports the requirements as regulatory records and does not set out their terms as directions for any product.

One narrow entry exists for a related name. The Determination commencing 16 October 2026 lists disodium NADH only as an excipient in topical dermal medicines, under stated conditions (entry 1930, F2026L01382); that future entry does not establish its status on 14 October 2026. It does not change the TGA's position that NAD, NAD+ and NADH are not permitted ingredients in listed medicines. The TGA alert states that products making NAD, NAD+, NADH or NMN claims without an AUST number on the label may be unapproved goods or illegally supplied, and could pose a risk to health, and that an ARTG entry shows as an AUST L, AUST L(A) or AUST R number on the label or in the ARTG search (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026).

Why is NMN banned by the FDA, and is it still?

The FDA's position was that NMN was excluded from the definition of a dietary supplement. It told two NMN suppliers so in late 2022 (NutraIngredients, 9 December 2025), and it reversed that view in two letters dated 29 September 2025 (Venable LLP, 2 October 2025). The exclusion rule keeps a substance out of the supplement category if it was first authorised for investigation as a drug, unless it was marketed as a supplement before then. Venable LLP reports that the FDA concluded there was enough evidence that NMN was marketed as a supplement in the United States before that date, so NMN is not excluded.

The path took three years. Two trade groups filed a citizen petition on 7 March 2023, and in September 2023 the FDA said it had not reached a decision because of competing agency priorities. In August 2024 one of the groups sued, a court stayed the case, and the FDA applied enforcement discretion while it reviewed the petition (NutraIngredients, 9 December 2025). In December 2025 the FDA sent letters to two NMN suppliers confirming the change (NutraIngredients, 9 December 2025).

The reversal does not remove every US requirement. Venable LLP reports that NMN remains a new dietary ingredient, that each company must submit a premarket notification unless its ingredient comes from a supplier that has already filed one, that firms cannot rely on self-affirmed GRAS status to skip it, and that the FDA issued no interpretive guidance on the drug exclusion rule (Venable LLP, 2 October 2025). These are US rules. For listed medicines in Australia, the TGA's NMN requirements apply (TGA safety alert, last updated 3 February 2026).

Has the FDA issued a warning about NAD+ supplements?

The FDA warning letter opened for this page about an NAD-related supplement concerned claims, not the ingredient. On 17 November 2020, the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission wrote to a US supplier of nicotinamide riboside about products on its websites, and the letter's subject line is 'Unapproved and Misbranded Products Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)' (FDA warning letter 607692). The letter says website claims suggested that raising NAD+ levels, including through NR, was safe or effective for treating or preventing COVID-19.

A warning letter concerns one firm's products and statements on a date. It is not a rule about an ingredient, and this letter was about disease claims for NR products, not about NAD+ in general.

A different FDA document, with content current as of 30 October 2024, concerns NAD+ used by compounders, where the agency says it is aware of compounders using food-grade NAD+ sold by repackagers and that ingredients identified as food grade are not suitable for compounding sterile drugs without appropriate processing (FDA notice, 30 October 2024). The next section covers that notice and a later warning letter.

What has the FDA warned about compounded NAD+?

The FDA has warned about compounded NAD+ in two documents read for this page. A notice with content current as of 30 October 2024 says it received adverse event reports following use of NAD+ drugs, including severe chills, shaking, vomiting and fatigue with some requiring medical treatment, which the agency called consistent with excessive levels of endotoxins; the notice gives no count of reports (FDA notice, 30 October 2024). A warning letter dated 20 January 2026 to one US outsourcing facility says NAD+ does not appear on the 503B bulks list and is not used to compound a drug on the drug shortage list, so drugs compounded with it are not eligible for the 503B exemptions (FDA warning letter 718739).

The 503B bulks list names bulk drug substances with a clinical need that an outsourcing facility may use in compounding. The letter also describes a complaint about three patients who developed low blood pressure, uncontrollable shaking, shivers and body aches after a compounded NAD+ product, and an unopened vial from the same lot with excessive bacterial endotoxins; it is an inspection record, not a trial (FDA warning letter 718739, 20 January 2026).

The letter concerns one outsourcing facility, which had ceased production and started a voluntary recall on 30 July 2025. It is a US document about US drug-compounding law, and it does not set the Australian position. NAD+ side effects records the adverse events in more detail.

What do the anti-doping rules say about NAD+ drips?

The rule that bears on NAD+ drips is a volume rule, not a substance rule. The WADA 2026 Prohibited List, in force from 1 January 2026, prohibits intravenous infusions, and other intravenous delivery, of more than a total of 100 mL per 12-hour period, except those legitimately received in the course of hospital treatments, surgical procedures or clinical diagnostic investigations (item M2.2). Sport Integrity Australia said on 11 February 2022 that all IV infusions of more than 100 mL in a 12-hour period, of any substance, are prohibited at all times, in and out of competition, with the same exceptions, and its 2026 list page confirms the 1 January 2026 start (read 14 October 2026).

Sport Integrity Australia adds that a Therapeutic Use Exemption exists for an infusion prescribed for an established medical condition, and that reasons such as enhancing recovery and reducing fatigue would not meet that test (Sport Integrity Australia, 11 February 2022). Whether a particular product contains a prohibited substance is a separate question, for which the agency points athletes to Global DRO and its app.

The WADA list is the primary record, and the 2026 edition opened on 14 October 2026 matches the volume and the exceptions given above.

Do these records cover research-use NAD+?

No record on this page grants any permission for research material. Research material is not a medicine, is not a substitute for one, and is not for human or animal use. The records above describe regulators' positions on medicines, supplements and compounded drugs. They do not describe research reference material, and this page does not say how any of them applies to it. The site catalogue lists NAD+ reference material as a laboratory item. The NAD+ research guide covers the literature behind the name.