In Profession news

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Concerns have been raised around community pharmacies selling unlicensed ‘fat-dissolving’ injectable product Lemon Bottle, the General Pharmaceutical Council has said, as it warned that “non-medicinal, unregulated, unlicensed” cosmetic products have “potentially caused serious harm”. 

Writing to pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and contractors this morning, GPhC chief pharmacy officer Roz Gittins said the regulator has received concerns around community pharmacies making sales of Lemon Bottle and other unlicensed cosmetic products used in “non-surgical cosmetic procedures”. 

Unlicensed cosmetic products have also been “administered by pharmacists via injection in other settings,” said Ms Gittins, adding that the GPhC has been told they “have potentially caused serious harm”. 

Lemon Bottle, which is manufactured by South Korean cosmetics company SID Medicos, is marketed as a “natural” injectable product that ‘targets fat deposits’. The product reportedly contains bromelain, riboflavin and lecithin. 

Some users have experienced severe bruising, infections, abscesses and in one case necrosis, warned a Guardian report from late 2023 that described Lemon Bottle as a “viral marketing sensation” on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook Marketplace. 

In March 2024, Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic warned the public against using Lemon Bottle, which it described as having “no medicinal effect”. 

P3pharmacy has seen the product for sale on a number of registered UK pharmacies’ websites.

These include a non-public-facing pharmacy that sells Lemon Bottle to registered aesthetics practitioners and an NHS pharmacy that provides consultations with “experienced practitioners” with prices starting from £99.

Both these pharmacies have been approached for comment. 

The GPhC warned the sector that unlicensed medicinal products are not required to meet standards for safety and efficacy, may not disclose the full list of ingredients and come with “limited or no clinical safety data”. 

“If the pharmacy owner and/or superintendent pharmacist has chosen to offer an unlicensed, unregulated product for sale, it is their responsibility to make sure that they have sought assurances from the supplier,” said Ms Gittins as she warned pharmacies they must carry out their own due diligence around safety and check whether the provision of products is covered by indemnity arrangements. 

Ms Gittins’ email to pharmacy professionals and owners also revealed the GPhC has recently taken statutory enforcement action against pharmacies “supplying medicines that have been prescribed by prescribers working for unregulated online platforms”.