Across Australia, “longevity” and “wellness” clinics, most of them online, sell injections that promise to slow ageing, build muscle, heal injuries and help you sleep.

This week’s ABC 4 Corners described a doctor prescribing a “stack” of them after a short questionnaire and a phone call. Many are peptides.

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids: the tiny building blocks of the proteins in our bodies. A few peptides, such as insulin, are approved medicines.

But the peptides sold at online wellness clinics – with names such as BPC-157, CJC-1295 and TB-500 – aren’t approved, nor are most other “anti-ageing” injections.

None has been shown to have the claimed effects in humans, and the medicines regulator warns they carry real risks.

Some people import a supply for their own use. For some peptides, that is lawful with a valid prescription.

Others are controlled imports that also need an importation permit a patient cannot get. Without the right authority, or if the peptides are sold on, importing them is an offence.

And it doesn’t matter if the substances are labelled “research chemicals, not for human use” if, in substance, they are therapeutic goods. Australian law does not recognise any “research chemicals” exemption.

But others get these substances via online clinics that exploit a legal loophole: these injections are “unapproved” but that doesn’t mean they’re “banned”.

What the medicines regulator does

Before a medicine can be sold in Australia, it usually has to be listed on an official register. To get there, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) – the government body that regulates medicines – must check it is safe, well........

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