QR 678 Neo and Elementre MD Peel: registrations cancelled for treatment claims

Two CDSCO orders six months apart draw the same line. On 22 Dec 2025 the cosmetics division cancelled the registration of QR 678 Neo, an anti-hair-loss product from Esthetic Centers International in Mumbai, registered under RC/COS-001410. The company's website and social media marketed it for hair loss after chemotherapy and for androgenetic alopecia. Those are treatment claims, and Rule 36 of the Cosmetics Rules 2020 bars a cosmetic from being presented as if it treats a condition.

On 11 May 2026 the division cancelled RC/COS-005139 for Elementre MD Peel-Tri AHA, from Glow Global LLP in Hyderabad. The product was a 60 per cent alpha-hydroxy-acid peel at a pH of 1.5 to 2.5, marketed with a 'patient tolerance' claim. The order cites Rule 36 and Rule 39(1): at that strength and acidity the product is a clinical procedure, not a cosmetic, and 'patient' is a word that belongs to drugs.

Both companies remain free to apply for drug approval if they want to keep the claims. What they cannot do is register a cosmetic and sell it as a treatment. The 18 May 2026 notice on injectables made the same point for a different product class.