Referring to cosmetic injectables in advertising

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has updated its guidance on advertising cosmetic injectables to ensure advertising rules are applied consistently across all industries that deal with therapeutic goods.

Historically, the TGA has allowed indirect references to prescription medicines to be referenced in advertisements related to cosmetic health services. This was allowed only in the context of promoting the service and only by using generic non-product specific terms such as ‘wrinkle reducing injections.’ Express references to products or ingredients themselves, such as ‘Botox’ or ‘botulinum toxin’, were not permitted. The TGA considered this a pragmatic approach which would allow cosmetic clinics who offered these services to differentiate themselves from those that did not.

Recently, the TGA has observed that clinics and health services in other industry areas are advertising the availability of prescription medicines, usually by referring to a class of goods (for example ‘weight loss injections’, ‘medicinal cannabis’ or ‘nicotine vaping products’). The TGA has interpreted that promoting a health service in this way is also an advertisement for a therapeutic good that refers to prescription medicines, which is unlawful. 

To resolve any inconsistency in interpretation across industry areas, the TGA no longer permits references to terms such as ‘wrinkle reducing injections’ where those terms would result in a reasonable consumer understanding the intention of the content is to promote the use or supply of a prescription medicine. 

The revised guidance on advertising cosmetic injectables is now available on the TGA website at Advertising health services. This material reinforces that the legislation itself regarding cosmetic injectables has not changed, and advertising the use or supply of prescription medicines, including most cosmetic injectable products (as opposed to services), has never been compliant with the therapeutic goods framework. This includes through use of testimonials, claims about the goods, before and after photos, or price lists. 

The update aligns with the focus of other regulators on health professionals performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures and acknowledges the increasing vulnerability of Australians influenced by advertising in the cosmetic space. Prescription only medications carry higher risks than goods available for self-selection. Decisions about treatments that involve the use of prescription medicines should only be made by a health professional in consultation with each individual patient. 

Consistent with the TGA’s approach to compliance, we will seek high levels of voluntary compliance by engaging with and educating industry in the first instance and will run industry information sessions in the coming months.

We expect industry to take prompt steps to review their existing advertising of cosmetic injectables to bring it into line with the new guidance. 

Any future compliance action we take will be consistent with our regulatory framework. This means it will be evidence-based and will adjust to respond to the nature and seriousness of the alleged non-compliance. For more information on the types of actions we may take, please see the Compliance and enforcement hub on the TGA website. 

When preparing and/or updating your advertising, you can obtain advice from your industry representative and or Regulatory affairs consultants.

If you suspect non-compliance in relation to therapeutic goods, we encourage you to report illegal or questionable practices and suspected non-compliant advertising to us online.

Contact for members of the media:

• Email: news@health.gov.au
• Phone: 02 6289 7400