After being arrested for selling weight-loss drugs containing sibutramine, Guo Meimei has sounded the alarm for this gray industry.
Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “all-weather technology” (ID: iawtmt), Author: all-weather technology.
Author | Duanmu Editor | Murong
Guo Meimei, the originator of “net celebrity showing off her wealth”, was released from prison for less than two years and “rolled over” again.
Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a “police report” on its official Weibo: On March 11, the Pudong police successfully detected a case of producing and selling weight-loss foods with prohibited ingredients, and arrested the producer Zeng. Sales staff Zhou Moumou, Guo Moumou and other 32 suspects.
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According to the Shangguan News report, the “Guo Moumou” in the bulletin was Guo Meimei, who was arrested and imprisoned for five years after showing off her wealth as a false identity as the “China Red Cross Commercial General Manager”.
The reason for this “second entry into the palace” was that Guo Meimei illegally sold diet foods containing the prohibited ingredient sibutramine. It is reported that sibutramine has been banned by my country for ten years, but she sells this type of diet food in the live broadcast room and WeChat ecology.
At present, the relevant suspects have been criminally detained by the police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further investigation.
“Sibutramine” is a term that is unfamiliar to many people, but is extremely risky. In the past 20 years, it has been closely related to “homicide cases”, “extraordinary profits”, industry ups and downs, and crimes.
1 Sibutramine’s “Crime and Punishment”
What is sibutramine?
Public information shows that sibutramine is a non-amphetamine appetite suppressant and has antidepressant properties. Its pharmacological effect is to inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine through its amine (secondary and primary amines) metabolites, thereby increasing satiety and reducing food Ingest.
Sibutramine was first developed by Abbott Pharmaceuticals in the United States. It was approved for listing in the United States in 1997 and approved for listing in the European Union in 1999. After that, it was approved in Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries, and it was listed in my country in 2000.
Sibutramine was mainly used to treat depression in the initial stage of the market, but it was found in clinical applications that the weight reduction effect of this product was significantly stronger than its antidepressant effect, which was caught by many speculators. , And use it to make weight-loss drugs.
After being listed in China in 2000, dozens of weight-loss products containing sibutramine appeared in China, including brands such as Aoquqing, Xinfenmeilin, and Kexiu.
Statistics show that sibutramine products, which have dominated the Chinese weight-loss drug market for ten years, accounted for 23% of the domestic weight-loss drug market in 2008. The most famous one is Qumei.
In August 2000, Tai Chi Group announced the launch of a weight-loss drug with sibutramine hydrochloride as the main ingredient-Qumei, which was also the first prescription drug approved by the State Drug Administration for weight loss. Because of the endorsements of celebrities such as Gong Li and Fan Bingbing, Qumei was once an out-and-out star product in the domestic slimming drug market.
With the blessing of various marketing methods, the product won the national pharmaceutical retail market sales champion within two years after its launch, with sales exceeding 300 million yuan and sales exceeding 5 billion yuan in ten years.
Just as Qumei and other weight-loss drugs containing sibutramine swept the market, the side effects of sibutramine were gradually exposed.
In 2007, a 21-year-old girl in Changzhi, Shanxi Province, took a weight-loss drug containing sibutramine, “Clean Fat for Three Days”. She developed adverse symptoms 3 days later and died after 10 days.
In 2009, a 17-year-old girl in Hong Kong, China bought the “ShowParty Slimming Pie” weight-loss drug online. After taking it for a month, she became mentally abnormal and developed delusions and suicidal tendencies. After testing by the Department of Health, it was found that the weight loss pill contained unlabeled western medicine ingredients “phenol” and “sibutramine”.
According to the Southern Weekend report, from January 1, 2004 to January 15, 2010, the National Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center received a total of 298 reports of sibutramine-related adverse reactions. The main adverse reactions were heart palpitations and constipation. , Dry mouth, dizziness, insomnia, etc.
The former State Food and Drug Administration also organized relevant experts to evaluate the safety of sibutramine in China. In the end, the medical community has reached a consensus that the risk of sibutramine weight loss treatment is greater than the benefit, and there are many adverse reactions.
On February 26, 2010, the former State Food and Drug Administration issued safety information and risk warnings to sibutramine, and formally issued a notice on October 30 of the same year, requesting to stop the production and sales of sibutramine preparations and raw materials The production, sale and use of drugs in my country, and the drugs that have been on the market shall be recalled and destroyed by the manufacturer.
So far, the “Golden Decade” of sibutramine has come to an end, and weight-loss products such as Qumei have also been removed from major markets. The Taiji Group, which relied on Qumei for a lot of profit, directly affected nearly 40 million yuan in sales revenue that year due to the removal of its products.
In fact, the safety of sibutramine has been very controversial since its listing. In Germany, the United States, Italy and other places, there have also been cases of death from taking sibutramine.
In 2009, the European drug regulatory agency concluded after a study: Sibutramine can increase cardiovascularThe risks include non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, resuscitable cardiac arrest, and cardiovascular death. Subsequently, many countries and regions in Europe and the United States successively blocked sibutramine.
2Sibuqu light and dark self-growth
Although sibutramine was banned by relevant authorities ten years ago, related illegal production and sales of sibutramine have been repeatedly banned over the years.
Different from the past practice of brand marketing on major platforms, these weight-loss drugs containing sibutramine are now low-key sold in new sales channels such as micro-business, live streaming, etc., relying on “word of mouth” to induce ignorant consumers buy.
Some media exposed Guo Meimei’s WeChat Moments, which were full of “Chenk Diet Candy” advertisements and chat screenshots, and a box of them was priced at 699 yuan. In order to attract customers, she also said in the promotion, “Our most stubborn customers lose 4 catties after eating a box, and other customers can basically lose 6 or 7 catties after eating a box.”
However, screenshots of the WeChat interaction between Guo Meimei and netizens show that taking this weight-loss confectionery will produce a feeling of fullness and cause loss of appetite, and you need to drink more water.
“Guo Meimei” is just one of those who take the risk. In many cases of anti-obesity drugs uncovered by the police, sibutramine-like ingredients were found to be added.
According to incomplete statistics from the Beijing News, in 2017, the large case of manufacturing and selling toxic and counterfeit weight-loss drugs was detected in Loudi, Hunan, and sibutramine was added to it; in 2018, Zhejiang Wenzhou police investigated and dealt with the case of micro-business selling weight-loss drugs , 4 weight loss drugs all contain sibutramine; in 2019, Zhangjiagang City Police in Suzhou investigated and handled a case of selling weight loss drugs on WeChat. The drug was named “Slimming Capsules for Fat Burning”, and sibutramine was also detected; in 2020, Kunshan Police, Jiangsu A case of selling toxic and harmful food was cracked, and 300,000 tablets of various counterfeit weight-loss drugs were seized, the main ingredient of which was sibutramine.
On the China Judgment Documents website, there have been nearly a thousand cases related to “sibutramine”.
Why is the state banned, “Guo Meimei” still go ahead and sell them quietly? The reason is still profitable and quick money.
Even some speculators who are not as famous as Guo Meimei have made a lot of money in this field.
In the “3·15” food and drug safety and consumer rights protection prosecution typical public interest litigation case recently released by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, there is a related case. The suspects Liu Moumou and Ji Moumou sold foods such as weight-loss capsules and fruit and vegetable enzyme powder added with sibutramine, and the related payments were as high as 1.3175 million yuan.
According to the Zhongan Online report, in a case of the production and sale of counterfeit “weight loss capsules” uncovered by the police in Tongling, Anhui in 2020, 8 suspects including Sun Moumou began selling fertilizer products in just a few years since July 2017. Sales exceed 10 million yuan.
3 the cost of taking risks
Sibutramine is like “Guo Meimei” plundering ignoranceAs a tool for consumer health, the price of taking risks is legal sanctions or even prison.
my country’s “Criminal Law” stipulates that anyone who mixes toxic or harmful non-food raw materials into the food produced or sold, or sells food that is known to be mixed with toxic or harmful non-food raw materials, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years. In addition, they will be fined; and those who cause serious harm to human health or have other serious circumstances will be punished for more than five years or even more serious.
The aforementioned case uncovered by the police in Tongling, Anhui Province, has been sentenced in the second instance. Eight suspects including Zhang and Sun were sentenced to eleven to three years in prison, with fines ranging from eleven to three years.
In the “3·15” food and drug safety consumer rights protection prosecution typical public interest litigation case issued by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the suspects Liu Moumou and Ji Moumou also received the court’s second-instance ruling in November 2020 and were sentenced He was imprisoned for ten years and four months, and he was sentenced to ten times the compensation of 13,174510 yuan.
Justice may be late, but it will never be absent.
When she was released from prison in 2019, Guo Meimei told the media: “If there is a cause, there will be an effect. I think about my affairs in the same way. Maybe I was too arrogant before, and now I should bear the consequences.”
Now, it’s time for her to bear the consequences again. Guo Meimei was arrested again for selling banned weight-loss drugs, which has also aroused the attention of many media. She has raised alarm bells for this gray industry.