For years, I’ve had a niche practice advising clients (usually private medical clinics and pharmacies) in relation to advertising of medicines and medicinal products. This skillset used to get pulled out of the bag about once per quarter and generally related to technical points such as whether a POM (prescription-only medicine) could legally be advertised if it formed part of a public health campaign.
However, with the explosion in the use of weight management POMs over the past few years, we are now advising a large number of clients facing enforcement action by the MHRA, GPhC (or another professional regulator) and/or ASA – frequently all three. Sadly, “but these kinds of ads are everywhere!” is not an effective defence, even if true.
What we’re seeing is a preference from the MHRA to go after those businesses owned by regulated healthcare professionals, so that the greater lever of professional discipline proceedings can also be brought into play.
It’s easier to get advertising correct from the outset rather than retrospectively trying to delete and amend, so please get in touch if you would like proactive advice. We can also help if that ship has sailed and you need to respond to correspondence from the MHRA/GPhC/GMC/ASA in the best possible manner.
