Nine pharmacies have amended their ads after advertising prescription-only medicines (POMs) for weight loss to the public, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced last week.
The MHRA said it had received complaints about posters at the premises of PCT Healthcare Ltd, trading as Peak Pharmacy Chellaston, and PillBox Chemists Ltd, trading as Birchall & Haydock Pharmacy.
The regulator said it also took action against Mayfair Weight Loss Clinic, Oushk Pharmacy Ltd, Simple Online Pharmacy and The Family Chemist Ltd after complaints were made about the “distribution of email”.
Read more: Exclusive: GPhC takes first enforcement action over POM ads
And it acted on the “distribution of email” and “website homepage” of Express Healthcare Ltd, trading as Pharmacy Online, Quanta Healthcare Ltd, trading as The Virtual Slimming Clinic, and TheCurateGroup Ltd, trading as Curate Health, it added.
The MHRA said advertising regulations “prohibit the publication of an advertisement to the public that is likely to lead to the use of a POM”, adding that it is “not appropriate to send proactive promotional communications such as emails or text messages” that may lead to the public using a POM.
This includes advertising with “indirect references to weight loss injections or GLP-1 medication”, it noted.
Read more: Weight loss POMs remain at centre of MHRA ad investigations
The MHRA said customers or previous customers must not be targeted like this even if they once “expressed an interest in a service” or were “prescribed a particular medication in the past”.
The medicines watchdog said its decision “relates to specific advertising action taken on a particular date and is no endorsement of the ongoing practices” of the pharmacy’s websites.
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A spokesperson for Oushk told C+D it takes compliance with MHRA and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) requirements “very seriously”.
“We took steps to address the concerns raised by the MHRA, removing the relevant material and updating our internal marketing approval procedures,” they added.
All nine pharmacies were contacted for comment.
Read more: ASA rules against Bolt Pharmacy over Facebook weight loss page
It comes after the GPhC last month issued an improvement notice against Express Healthcare Limited, in what was the regulator’s first-ever enforcement action against a pharmacy over the advertisement of POMs.
And it follows the MHRA announcing in August that Simple Online Pharmacy, The Family Chemist and five other pharmacies faced action over the promotion of weight loss POMs.
