Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many import licences or permissions were granted in each of the last five years for live botulin toxins for the manufacture of Botox.

Clostridium botulinum toxin is the active substance used as a starting material for the manufacture of Botox, a licensed human medicine. Active substances are those substances which give a medicinal product its therapeutic effect and must be manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice standards for active substances used as a starting material.

From 20 August 2013, manufacturers, importers and distributors of active substances who are established in the United Kingdom had to register their activity with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

The UK has no registered importers of the active substance Clostridium botulinum toxin, but has one registered manufacturer of the toxin that is Good Manufacturing Practice compliant, and was last inspected in May 2016.