Consumers of aesthetic medicine are being urged to request original product packaging before receiving aesthetic treatments to avoid illegal or counterfeit drugs.
With several clinics of aesthetic medicine investigated for alleged use of counterfeits, consumers are cautioned to be on alert when they encounter advertisements touting “US FDA approved” or “being used by Korean stars.
An aesthetic medicine group in Tainan has recently been charged with using prohibited drugs and tax evasion, with the prosecutors reportedly finding at least 247 boxes of unapproved hyaluronic acid injections and two illicit catabolic enzyme injections.
A plastic surgery clinic in Taipei is being investigated for allegedly using unapproved Clostridium botulinum, with the operator reportedly implicating an upstream supplier for providing the allegedly illicit treatments.
A pharmaceutical company selling legal C botulinum treatments said that most of the illicit drugs in Taiwan’s aesthetic medicine market are from China and South Korea.
According to the unnamed company, doctors independently bring back drugs from South Korea, diluting and repackaging them as approved medicines.
A woman surnamed Chen, a regular botox injection user, said she once experienced cheek inflammation after an injection.
Su Yi-chun (蘇宜君), a lawyer with Lee and Li law firm, said it is difficult to evaluate the damage caused by counterfeit or banned drugs in Taiwan unless the consumers keep the relevant evidence.
Although the fines to be imposed in these related cases are relatively heavy in Taiwan, the final rulings of judicial institutions, however, are light compared with the US, with many cases ending with settlements.
Taiwan Dermatological Association Chairman Yang Chih-hsun (楊志勛) said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has approved just two kinds of botox.
Any drugs, even if they are approved in foreign countries that are not approved for entering the market by the health authority are counterfeit and prohibited drugs.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS