3.15 Gala | The internet celebrity's ten-thousand-yuan "万能神药" exosome is actually a "three-no" product

“Exosomes have really been all the rage these past two years and are being hailed as the darling of the anti-aging industry.” This is the most hotly promoted product category in the recent medical aesthetics market. After checking introductions in multiple medical journals and from industry insiders, the reporter learned that the “exosomes” that the hosts in the videos talk about are actually bioactive substances secreted during stem cell culture. However, in both the medical and academic communities, the underlying mechanisms of action, clinical testing, and multiple other medical procedures for this substance are still not clear, and much of it remains at the stage of academic research and theoretical research.

Precisely because this is a bioactive substance with no settled conclusions yet, some businesses in the market have smelled an opportunity. In online marketing videos, exosomes are being used by some medical aesthetics institutions for beauty and anti-aging. But in contrast to the hosts’ seemingly miraculous promotional videos, the internet is also filled with numerous complaints and gripes from consumers about “anti-aging with exosomes”: “I only did exosomes, and my whole face became infected—severe acne.”

While businesses have been heavily promoting them, some consumers are also complaining that their consumer rights and interests have been violated. The reporter found out that in June 2025, the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration released a solicitation draft for comments, which would include exosomes that have therapeutic functions and rely on active ingredients to work under drug regulation. But this is only a solicitation draft, and its purpose is to regulate such substances from entering society and being abused or used incorrectly. As of now, China has not approved any exosome drugs for上市 sale. But even after the national authorities draw a red line, these unapproved “exosome anti-aging” products are still popular in some medical aesthetics fields, and they are priced high.

To find out the specific situation, the reporter—based on information provided by consumers—found an “exosome” product on the market called “Qingcheng.” It is a so-called “product” that is selling hot across major medical aesthetics institutions, and it claims to be a “Category II medical device.” But the reporter learned that currently China does not allow any medical device product to be上市 and sold that uses exosomes as an ingredient. A staff member from the manufacturer, Haolin (Tianjin) Biotechnology Co., Ltd., clearly told the reporter that the main ingredient of the product their company produces is exosomes, but to evade market regulation, they had used a collagen license. The staff did not conceal the违规 behavior of using a fake license.

Haolin (Tianjin) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Salesperson: All the products inside are produced by us. The current certificates used are for collagen. In the classification of medical device certificates, there is no classification for exosomes.

The national competent authorities have strict regulatory requirements for exosomes: exosome ingredients must not be added into Category II medical devices, and no product has been approved for上市 sale. The staff at Haolin (Tianjin) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. understands this well.

Producing with certificates, adding违规 ingredients, and违规 sales—but this is not the full picture of the exosome industry’s chaos. Although as of now China has no approved and上市 products containing exosomes, there are still some companies that engage in false advertising. They promote their self-produced exosome products not only as something that can beautify and fight aging; they even go as far as exaggerating that it can treat multiple diseases.

The reporter, citing the possibility of cooperation, contacted a YuanChuang Gene Technology Co., Ltd. located in a city in central China. The other party strongly invited the reporter to visit and inspect. To demonstrate the company’s strength, Manager Han took the reporter on a tour of the company’s technology exhibition hall and its so-called “laboratory.” Before entering the “laboratory,” putting on shoe covers, changing into protective dust suits, and wearing hats are all required procedures. Manager Han told the reporter that their exosome products are divided into several grades; the grade sold to the medical aesthetics industry is the lowest, with the worst results.

YuanChuang Gene Technology Co., Ltd. Manager Han: In terms of technical difficulty levels, medical aesthetics is the lowest—Grade One. Next come wellness care for under-the-weather conditions and various chronic diseases. The highest grade is tumor treatment.

Manager Han admitted that using exosomes to adjust the body and treat diseases has, in his case, already been carried out as specific sales work. Manager Han also specifically told the reporter that several middle-aged and elderly people in the next meeting room—after hearing the online promotions—came especially to seek “cures” for treating diseases from their company.

YuanChuang Gene Technology Co., Ltd. Manager Han: Customers come here to provide inspection reports, and we write the treatment plan. After that, they come here to get the exosome adjustment.

When the reporter asked to see how the company injects exosomes into patients, Manager Han said that there is a great regulatory risk involved in injecting their “exosome” products. Since the products have not been approved by the state, they do not inject exosomes into patients at the company; therefore they refused the reporter’s request.

The reporter continued the investigation further. Not only YuanChuang Gene Technology Co., Ltd., but in a southwestern city, a company called Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. also had its负责人 Tan speak candidly to the reporter that they also use exosomes to treat diseases.

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: I’m for medical use levels—I dare to infuse, I dare to inject, targeted. This morning I shipped 360 vials. One client ordered it because their child has infantile epilepsy and needs a year’s supply.

Reporter: Are you injecting the same thing?

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: It’s the same thing as beauty-related products; it’s just that the method of use is different.

Seeing the reporter still skeptical, Manager Tan directly took out what she claimed to be a “medical-use exosome frozen raw solution” from the refrigerator and “openly and freely” showed it to the reporter. The packaging of the item contained no product information whatsoever—an absolutely “three-nothing” product.

Reporter: Is there an device license for Category II, a device license for Category III, or a cosmetic approval number?

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: No, no, no. Exosomes are called technology, not that you are selling a product.

Reporter: If it’s a product, then that wouldn’t work, right?

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: A product definitely wouldn’t work.

Reporter: Why is that?

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: It hasn’t been approved yet. The only thing we can sign with you is technical services, so it lets you avoid all legal risks.

By disguising the “three-nothing” products as “technical services,” exosomes flow into the market like this. To prove the medical efficacy of their products, Manager Tan directly took the reporter to their so-called “laboratory,” where the reporter watched in person.

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: We take the exosomes from here—that’s the laboratory.

As soon as her words finished, a phone call came in urging Manager Tan to send the exosome products. Hearing that the patient was about to treat their disease by receiving exosome via infusion, Manager Tan, in order to prove her products’ strength, invited the reporter to go deliver the products together.

Following Manager Tan, the group drove for more than ten minutes to a local hospital. In the hospital’s fifth-floor high-end medical area, the reporter witnessed consumers receiving intravenous injections of “three-nothing exosomes”!

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: This is what the laboratory took out—they’ve already started the infusion. She has some discomfort with her feet and is generally not in good health. This one has kidney discomfort. I walked too hurriedly, so I didn’t label it. There is something on the bag: 250 billion exosomes (particle count).

According to Manager Tan’s introduction, diseases such as epilepsy, arthritis, and diabetes can all be addressed by infusing “three-nothing exosomes.” But when the reporter asked to see data reports that could verify that exosomes have therapeutic effects, Manager Tan refused. Manager Tan also told the reporter that because the company lacks medical qualifications, exosome infusions can only be arranged by collaborating with medical institutions; in the industry, this kind of operation is referred to as “renting the stage and hiring an injection team.”

Reporter: How much do you charge them here?

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: For the operating fee? In a small room, it’s 500 yuan; in a big room (shared), 200 yuan.

Those so-called “exosomes” that have no national approval, no clinical trials of any kind, and no efficacy data—packaged by these companies into “miracle drugs that cure everything,” and even injected into patients’ bodies using the method of “renting the stage and hiring an injection team”—are generating considerable profits.

Jiebotsi’er Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Manager Tan: First time, 150 billion (particle count). Second time, 200 billion (particle count). Third time, 250 billion (particle count). In this progressive way, totaling 600 billion (particle count), and you charge 60k yuan from the customer.

Researcher Yang Yue, School of Pharmacy, Tsinghua University: Before all medical technologies and drugs are used in the human body, they must undergo very strict preclinical pharmaceutical research and clinical research. By going through this strict process to verify the safety and effectiveness of medical technologies and drugs. If it’s used on the human body without approval from the drug regulatory authorities, there may be certain risks. After this product is injected into the body, it can cause damage to the body’s organs and functions, even permanent damage.

(Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            Exosomes