The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced today (August 12) that it has caught a pharmaceutical sales agent who illegally sold prescription drugs such as glutathione injections, commonly known as "white jade injections," and referred the suspect to the prosecution for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.

The Central Investigation Team of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety launched an investigation after receiving a tip that prescription drugs used for dermatological procedures in hospitals were being illegally sold through online communities.

According to the investigation, a pharmaceutical sales agent identified as A misappropriated 2,293 units across approximately 100 types of prescription injection drugs requiring a doctor's prescription and sold them to 156 people between April of last year and April of this year.

Agent A placed orders with wholesalers for larger quantities of pharmaceuticals than needed under the pretext of supplying hospitals, delivered only a portion to hospitals, and sold the rest to buyers via courier service or direct transactions.


The scale of the illegal sales amounts to approximately 160 million won.

Buyers paid for the products in cash or via bank transfer, and investigations revealed they purchased them for purposes such as skin beauty, stimulating effects, or fatigue recovery.

Among the illegally sold prescription drugs were medications intended for preventing neurological diseases and treating inner ear hearing loss, which were found to have been arbitrarily used for skin beauty contrary to their approved purposes.

The Central Investigation Team of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has applied for a pre-indictment asset preservation order to the prosecution regarding 70 million won in criminal proceeds acquired by agent A, in accordance with relevant laws.

(Photo provided by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Yonhap News)