Almost 70% (nine out of 13) of the adverts the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) deemed to have breached legislation in July concerned the advertising of weight loss prescription-only medicines (POMs).
The majority of these breaches (seven of the nine) concerned regulation 284 which prohibits “the publication of an advertisement to the public that is likely to lead to the use of a POM”.
These included: Bishops Waltham Pharmacy (print advertisement in local magazine; website homepage); Bolt Pharmacy (distribution of email); Cured Pharmacy (distribution of email); Simple Online Pharmacy (website homepage); The Family Chemist (distribution of email); Numan (distribution of emails and text message) and YourDose Pharmacy (website homepage).
Read more: ASA rules against Bolt Pharmacy over Facebook weight loss page
One breach concerned regulation 279 which prohibits the advertising of unauthorised medicines.
Phlo Clinic was found to send an email referring to GLP-1 products “that did not have a Marketing Authorisation (MA) when the email was issued”, that “invited consumers to join a waitlist for early access”, which “proactively drew attention to products that were not authorised at that time”.
Read more: Ads regulator raps Phlo over Morrisons weight loss ad
The other incident was deemed to breach multiple regulations.
Voy, though advertising an eligible medicine (Orlos) “included statements such as: “coming soon” and “a new dawn is coming” alongside a silhouette of a pill bottle and an invitation to “join the presale waitlist today” on the advertisement.
The MHRA deemed this a “potential authorisation for a weight loss tablet”, breaking regulation 280 prohibiting the misleading publishing of an advertisement for a medicinal product, as well as regulation 279 relating to lack of UK MA.
Read more: Regulators issue warning on ads for unlicensed weight loss drugs
Three of the other four breaches related to the advertisement of the POM Kenalog.
Both Clinic M Medical and The GP Surgery Ltd were deemed to promote Kenalog to the public as a hay fever treatment. This was found to break advertising regulations that “prohibit the publishing of an advertisement to the public that is likely to lead to the use of a POM”, as well as Kenalog not being a “licensed treatment for hay fever”.
Medex Pharmaceuticals were found to promote Kenalog to Persons Qualified to Prescribe or Supply “in a way that was not consistent with the product indication as outlined in the Summary of Product Characteristics”.
Read more: Ads regulator raps Voy over Black Friday weight loss emails
This was deemed to breach regulation 280 which outlines that the Quality Standards for advertisements of a medicinal product “must be consistent with the SPC”.
The other breach was by The K Clinic (a mental-health support service), which was found to break regulation 284 by publishing an advert to the public “that is likely to lead to the use of a POM”. The MHRA does not state what medicine the K Clinic were advertising.
The MHRA said that all the companies in question “have amended their advertising following MHRA action”.
Read more: A cash cow that’s caused harm? Your thoughts on weight loss jabs
It comes after the ASA ruled against Bolt Pharmacy last month over running a Facebook weight loss page.’
And it follows the ASA upholding a complaint against Phlo over a Facebook ad that it said promoted weight loss POMs to the public.
