Are NAD+ injections legal in the UK?

This page is a plain-English summary of published rules and regulator statements, written to inform and not to advise. We are not lawyers, and nothing here says that any clinic or product does or does not comply with the law.

Where a point is unknown, we say it is unknown.

Are NAD+ injections legal in the UK?

There is no simple yes or no, because UK law regulates how medicinal products are prescribed, supplied, given and advertised, and we found no public MHRA statement that settles whether a given NAD+ product counts as one.

The rules most often raised are set out below. Several only apply if the product is a medicinal product, so read the last column first.

Rule	What it says	Applies when
Human Medicines Regulations 2012, reg 2 1	Defines a medicinal product, including a substance presented as having properties of preventing or treating disease in human beings	Always the first question: is the product one?
Regulation 46 2	A person may not sell or supply, or offer to sell or supply, an unauthorised medicinal product	The product is medicinal and has no authorisation, subject to exemptions
Regulation 167 3	Exemption for specials: unlicensed supply under set conditions, including that no advertisement is published	The product is medicinal, unlicensed and supplied under this exemption
Schedule 1 Part 1 5	A product for parenteral administration is available only on prescription	The product is medicinal and given by injection or infusion
Regulation 214 6	Prescription-only medicines may be supplied only on a prescription from an appropriate practitioner, and given by injection or infusion only by one or under their directions	The product is a prescription-only medicine
Regulation 284 8	No advertisement likely to lead to the use of a prescription-only medicine	The product is a prescription-only medicine
CAP Code 12.1, 12.11, 12.12 9	Evidence for claims, licence before marketing, no advertising of prescription-only medicines to the public	Any advertising in the UK covered by the Code

“Parenteral” means given by injection or infusion, and the Schedule does not mention NAD+ by name. ⁵

Is NAD+ for injection a licensed medicine?

We do not know: we found no public MHRA statement confirming the licensing status of any NAD+ product.

On 11 November 2026 we searched MHRA pages on GOV.UK for NAD+ and related terms and found no NAD+ page. The MHRA products database did not return readable results to our automated checks, so we have not been able to look the product up ourselves.

That means the status is unknown. It does not mean “unlicensed”, and we do not use that word for NAD+ in general.

What is on the record?

The only direct statement we found is from the Advertising Standards Authority, about one advertiser in 2020.

In ruling A20-1059547, on 22 April 2020, the ASA said: “We understood that the IV drip offered by the advertiser was not licensed as a medicinal product and because of that, no medicinal or medical claims could be made for it.” ¹⁰

That is the ASA’s understanding in an advertising ruling, and not an MHRA licensing decision, and it concerned a drip that combined 250 mg of NAD+ with B vitamins and vitamin C. ¹⁰

Press reports have made their own statements on licensing. We could not check any of them against the MHRA register, so we do not repeat them as fact.

What would the answer depend on?

It would depend on whether the product is a medicinal product, which turns on how it is presented and what it is used for. ¹

The regulations define a medicinal product as, among other things, “any substance or combination of substances presented as having properties of preventing or treating disease in human beings”. ¹

If a product is medicinal and has no marketing authorisation, regulation 46 says it may not be sold or supplied, subject to exemptions. ²

One exemption covers “specials”. A product must be made to the specification of a doctor, dentist, nurse independent prescriber, pharmacist independent prescriber or supplementary prescriber, and no advertisement for it may be published by anyone. ³

MHRA guidance says the special need is the clinical need of the individual patient and “does not include reasons of cost, convenience or operational needs”. ⁴

It adds that the exemption is narrow because such products “may not have been assessed” against the criteria of safety, quality and efficacy. ⁴

We do not know how any listed clinic sources its NAD+, because their websites do not say, so none of this tells you which route a particular clinic uses.

Who can prescribe and give a prescription-only injection?

If a product is a prescription-only medicine, regulation 214 says a person may not sell or supply it except in accordance with a prescription given by an appropriate practitioner. ⁶

Appropriate practitioners include doctors, dentists, supplementary prescribers, nurse independent prescribers and pharmacist independent prescribers. ⁶

Giving the medicine by injection or infusion to someone else is lawful only by an appropriate practitioner or a person acting in accordance with that practitioner’s directions. ⁶

The Nursing and Midwifery Council says a Patient Specific Direction is the legal method of prescribing, including when a prescriber delegates administration. ⁷

These are the reasons the questions to ask a clinic start with who prescribes and who gives it.

Who regulates clinics that offer injections or IV drips?

Different bodies cover different parts: the MHRA covers medicines, the ASA covers advertising, and the CQC in England, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) cover care services.

Body	Covers	Notes
MHRA	Medicines, including what may be advertised 13	We found no MHRA page on NAD+
ASA and CAP	Advertising claims	Applies the CAP Code 9
CQC	Regulated activities in England	Scope depends on purpose and who provides the service 14
HIW	Independent clinics in Wales	May need to register, depending on the professional 18
HIS	Independent healthcare in Scotland	Focuses on the professional providing the service 20
Professional regulators (for example the NMC)	Individual clinicians	The NMC sets standards for nurse prescribers 7

Our listings cover England and Wales, with one UK-wide provider and none in Scotland or Northern Ireland. This page does not cover Northern Ireland.

Does every clinic need to be registered with the CQC?

No: whether a service must register depends on what it does and who provides it, and the CQC’s own guidance excludes interventions carried out purely for cosmetic purposes. ¹⁴

The regulated activity “Treatment of disease, disorder or injury” applies to treatment of a disease, disorder or injury in any setting, including clinics. ¹⁴

The exclusions listed include “Interventions carried out purely for cosmetic purposes” and alternative and complementary medicine (with the exception of osteopathy and chiropractic). ¹⁴

The regulation itself defines the activity as treatment of a disease, disorder or injury by or under the supervision of a health care professional, or a team that includes one. ¹⁵

What did the CQC find in one 2018 inspection?

It found that the intravenous and intramuscular vitamin services at one clinic fell outside its scope.

The 2018 inspection summary says: “At the time of our inspection, we found the services provided at [the clinic] were out of CQC scope of registration and regulation. The service specialised in intravenous and intramuscular vitamin therapy intended to promote and sustain long term wellbeing.” ¹⁶

That is one case from 2018, and the CQC’s approach depends on whether the service treats a medical condition. We found no CQC page specifically about NAD+ or IV wellness therapy. ¹⁶

What does our own CQC check show?

CQC registration is not the same as the NAD+ service being regulated, and not every clinic we list appears on the register.

We matched our 92 listed clinics against the CQC’s open data of 2 November 2026. ¹⁷

Result of our check	Clinics
Matched a registered location	41
Matched a registered provider but not the clinic’s own address	5
Not found	45
Could not be checked (Wales)	1

“Not found” does not prove a clinic is unregistered, because a service can sit outside CQC scope or operate under another provider’s registration. ¹⁷

Of the 41 matches, 39 list “Treatment of disease, disorder or injury” among their registered activities and 2 list only diagnostic and screening procedures. ¹⁷

A match shows that a location is on the register. It does not show that the NAD+ service is one of the things the CQC inspects.

What about Wales and Scotland?

In Wales, HIW says independent clinics, independent hospitals and independent medical agencies may need to register. ¹⁹

Its 2019 guidance treats a clinic where private-only medical services are provided regularly by GMC-registered medical practitioners as one that needs registration. ¹⁸

It also says services provided by other health care professionals not registered with the GMC “do not usually require HIW registration, unless a listed service is being provided”. ¹⁸

So a nurse-led clinic in Wales may fall outside HIW registration. We could not check the HIW register for the two Cardiff clinics in our listings.

In Scotland, HIS says the legal definition of an independent healthcare service focuses on the professional providing the treatment, and that healthcare professionals named in the definition of an independent clinic must register regardless of the treatments offered. ²⁰

What do the advertising rules say about NAD+ claims?

Under the CAP Code, prescription-only medicines may not be advertised to the public, medicines must be licensed before they are marketed, and objective claims need evidence.

• Rule 12.1. Medicinal or medical claims may be made for a medicinal product licensed by the MHRA, VMD or under the EMA, or for a medical device with the applicable conformity marking. ⁹
• Rule 12.11. Medicines must have a licence from the MHRA, VMD or under the EMA before they are marketed. ⁹
• Rule 12.12. Prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public. ⁹

Regulation 284 of the 2012 Regulations also says a person may not publish an advertisement that is likely to lead to the use of a prescription-only medicine. ⁸

The MHRA tells advertisers that prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised to the general public, and that no medicine that is not MHRA-licensed can be advertised. ¹³

CAP and the ASA say medicinal claims are not permitted for intravenous nutritional therapies unless that specific product has been licensed as a medicine for that purpose. ¹¹

What did the ASA rule about an NAD+ drip?

In ruling A20-1059547 of 22 April 2020, the ASA upheld a complaint about two Instagram posts promoting a 250 mg NAD+ IV drip. ¹⁰

The advertiser was Cosmetic Medical Advice UK Ltd, trading as Dr Rita Rakus Clinic. ¹⁰

The ASA found the claim “protect yourself from viral infections” was “an implied medicinal claim that the IV drip offered by the advertiser could help to prevent people from catching coronavirus/COVID-19”. ¹⁰

It found the ads breached CAP rules 12.1 and 12.11, and told the advertiser not to make medicinal claims for unlicensed products, including stated or implied claims that its IV drips could help prevent or treat COVID-19 or other viruses. ¹⁰

The ruling concerned COVID-era claims. It is the only ASA ruling we found that names an NAD+ IV drip, but we could not search the ASA’s rulings database directly, so others may exist. ¹⁰

The ruling quotes an earlier edition of the Code, so the wording of rule 12.1 differs slightly from the current page.

What has the MHRA said, as reported?

This is a press report and not an MHRA publication.

The Observer reported in February 2025 that the MHRA said it had taken action against seven clinics offering NAD+ for medicinal purposes, requiring them to remove treatment claims. ¹²

The same report quoted an MHRA spokesperson as saying: “Anyone who is making medicinal claims about NAD+, including using NAD+ to help with addiction, is in breach of our regulations”. ¹²

The report does not name the clinics, and we found no MHRA-published page to confirm the statement. ¹²

It concerns claims made about NAD+, not a ruling on whether a particular product is licensed.

Is NAD+ available on the NHS?

We found no NHS page and no NICE guidance on NAD+, so we cannot point you to an NHS service that provides it. ²¹

Searches of nhs.uk and the NICE website on 11 November 2026 returned no results for NAD+, which is a search result and not an NHS policy statement. ²¹

What does a listing on this site mean?

A listing means a clinic says on its own website that it offers NAD+ by injection or IV and that we read that page; it is not an endorsement, an approval or a finding that the clinic complies with the rules above.

We do not rate, rank or recommend listed clinics. Our how we verify listings page sets out what we check, including the CQC matching shown above.

We do not reproduce any clinic’s claims. Our editorial policy explains how we source and write.

Where can I report a concern?

The right place depends on the concern, and we list the main routes here without recommending any one of them.

• An advertisement. The ASA takes complaints through an online form. It asks for details of the ad, any evidence, and your name and contact details, and it does not accept anonymous complaints. ²²
• A suspected side effect. The MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme says anyone can report an issue with a medicine, vaccine, medical device, blood product or e-cigarette. We could not confirm whether a given NAD+ product falls within it. ²³
• A care service. You can look up a provider on the CQC’s find care services page in England, or search for an independent healthcare provider on HIS’s site in Scotland. ^24, 25
• Urgent health concerns. See side effects and safety for the NHS routes.

For background on the injections themselves, see NAD+ injections and NAD+ IV therapy.

This page is general information, not medical or legal advice. Speak to your GP or a registered prescriber before making decisions about your health, and see our medical disclaimer.