Websites offering medicinal treatment services – February 2021
Published 9 June 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advertising-investigations-february-2021/websites-offering-medicinal-treatment-services-february-2021
SUMMARY REPORT FOR PUBLICATION
Websites offering medicinal treatment services – February 2021
The following list of companies have amended their advertising following MHRA action on complaints to ensure that unlicensed or prescription only medicines are not promoted to the public, and/or factual statements about medicines are not misleading
- Vishyus Pharma Ltd (trading as PharmacyOnline.co.uk)
- Honest Health Ltd t/a Freshman
The list relates to specific advertising action taken on a particular date and is no endorsement of the ongoing practices of the website.
You can see details of MHRA guidance for providers that offer medicinal treatment services in Appendix 6 of the MHRA Blue Guide.
MHRA advice for providers offering services that prescribe unlicensed medicines
Following a series of complaints in 2020 concerning advertisements by clinics referring to unlicensed treatment options for hair loss that were proactively distributed on social media, MHRA is issuing additional advice to service providers to help ensure advertisements conform with Part 14 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012:
To avoid an advertisement falling foul of regulation 279 of the Regulations, which prohibits the advertising of medicines that do not have a valid UK marketing authorisation or registration, the advertiser should follow these general principles:
- No efficacy claims or other product claims may be made for an unlicensed medicine, since the product would not have been formally assessed by an appropriate regulatory body.
- Treatments that involve the use of unlicensed medicines may not be described as ‘clinically proven’ or similar.
- Depictions of bottles or containers that clearly identify the contents as a medicine or that make medicinal claims are not permitted as this is likely to be regarded as advertising for an unlicensed medicinal product. We would not object to generic depictions of bottles or containers that may refer to a possible range of products such as medicines, cosmetics or food supplements.
By way of a reminder, compliance with the legislation is best achieved by focussing on the service provision offered by the website as outlined in our guidance for treatment service providers.