The MHRA have taken action again against the advertising of prescription-only medicines used for weight management.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in partnership with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), has jointly released an updated enforcement notice to reiterate the rules around the advertising of prescription-only medicines used for weight management.
The rules around prescription-only medicines for weight management continue to be broken.
Towards the end of April, the GPhC issued a joint enforcement notice making clear that adverts for named prescription-only medicines for weight management are prohibited.
“It is vital that people receive prescription-only medicines, such as those used for weight management, only after having an appropriate consultation, and when their prescriber has independently verified that the medicines are clinically appropriate for them,” said chief enforcement officer at the GPhC, Dionne Spence.
This was followed up in August with a letter to pharmacists. Roz Gittins, the chief pharmacy officer at the GPhC, raised concerns about a number of patient safety risks.
The letter was written to “raise awareness of some emerging issues which have led to concerns being raised with us”. She went on to emphasise that “pharmacy owners, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have a responsibility to make sure there are appropriate arrangements for the management of medicines.”
Illegal advertising
The updated notice is directed at businesses, primarily pharmacies, that make these medicines available to the public and provides clarity on the kinds of claims and images in an ad that are likely to break the rules.
Advertisers should avoid language that refers to prescription-only medicines, such as “weight-loss injection”, “obesity treatment jab” or “GLP-1”, imagery likely to be understood by consumers as denoting a prescription medicine, and ads for general weight-loss products or services that direct consumers to other ads, such as website landing pages, promoting prescription-only medicines.
The MHRA re-emphasised that it takes the illegal advertising of prescription-only weight-loss medicines to the public seriously.
The MHRA said that it had already taken action against more than 25 businesses that had promoted prescription-only medicines for weight loss to the public.
