This Thursday, March 16, 2017, two anti-aging serums were withdrawn from the French market by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM): these are the Neostem Serum and the Neostem Pocket Lift (more specifically dedicated to the eye contour), two cosmetics marketed by the Promicea laboratory.
The health authorities believe that the chemical formula of these two products does not correspond to the specifications of a cosmetic product, but rather to that of a drug … However, for a drug to be marketed in France, it must first pass tests and obtain marketing authorization.
Sodium alendronate and pravastatin
The molecules that are the problem are sodium alendronate and pravastatin. When combined, these two substances influence the production of progerin, a protein that participates in the aging of cells in the body. An action which pushes the ANSM to consider the Neostem Serum and the Neostem Pocket Lift as drugs rather than as simple anti-aging serums …
In addition, the ANSM also considers that these cosmetic products could present serious risks to the health of users – these serums would be “likely to present a danger to human health”. Indeed, pravastatin would indeed cause neurological disorders, deficiencies in immune system or the gastrointestinal system, while sodium alendronate is suspected of causing intestinal and metabolic disturbances and skin reactions.
“Laboratoire Promicea is required to withdraw the products called Neostem serum and Neostem pocket lift from all the distributors concerned and to disseminate this decision to all the distributors likely to hold the products concerned”, explain the experts. of the ANSM.
