Lloydspharmacy is under investigation by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) over concerns the company has advertised prescription-only medicines.

A newspaper advert for Lloydspharmacy's erectile dysfunction service, titled "lost the perk-in your gherkin", showed a picture of a drooping skyscraper next to an offer for a £6 pill that could be bought online. It is being looked at by the ASA's compliance team, the watchdog told C+D last week (December 13).

Lloydspharmacy had not been contacted by the ASA regarding the advert, a spokesperson for its parent company Celesio UK told C+D last week.

The advert, which appeared in London's Evening Standard in November, was brought to the ASA's attention by pharmacist Cathryn Brown, who believed it was "essentially an advert for a prescription-only medicine".

"It's a valuable thing to highlight awareness that there are treatments available for erectile dysfunction and you don't have to go to your GP. But advertising it on the basis of price per tablet doesn't imply a professional service," she told C+D.

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	The ASA responded to Ms Brown last month, saying she had a "valid point" and there seemed to be a "clear issue" with the advert breaching advertising regulations. It had passed the case to its committee of advertising practice compliance team, the ASA said in an email seen by C+D.

"The team will work to address the problem and ensure these ads, where they appear to advertise prescription-only medicines rather than the service generally, no longer appear," the ASA said.

Under section 12.12 of the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, prescription-only medicines and prescription-only medical treatments cannot be advertised to the public.

In September, medicines watchdog the MHRA upheld a complaint that Lloydspharmacy had been promoting prescription-only erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil by email. At the time, Lloydspharmacy admitted it had unintentionally sent an email about sildenafil pricing to customers who had previously ordered "various medicines" for erectile dysfunction.