Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 11 April 2025
Law stated as at: 30 May 2025
What happened:
The popularity of medicated weight-loss treatments has grown in recent months and with that the amount of ads promoting these types of medication have also increased. The ASA, the MHRA and the GPhC have issued a joint enforcement notice to reinforce the message that ads for prescription-only medicines, specifically mentioning those used for weight loss, are prohibited. All such ads are banned and this applies to ads appearing online, on social media and by influencers.
Some of the medicines observed in such ads include:
- Saxenda (liraglutide).
- Ozempic (semaglutide).
- Wegovy (semaglutide).
- Rybelsus (semaglutide).
- Mounjaro (tirzepatide).
- Mysimba (naltrexone / bupropion).
- Victoza (liraglutide).
The notice follows a warning issued by the ASA in December 2024 to businesses and individuals who have been releasing ads for weight-loss prescription-only medicines.
In the meantime, the ASA has also launched several investigations into the common approaches seen in ads for weight-loss prescription-only medicines and whether they are promoting such medication. The investigations will provide businesses and individuals with clarity as to what is acceptable in ads. Any formal rulings will be published after the investigations are concluded.
The ASA is using its AI-based Active Ad Monitoring system to actively scan for these types of ads. From an online sweep it found around 1,800 paid-for weight-loss ads from December and January that potentially advertised a prescription-only medication. Some of them included a named prescription-only medication which is in breach of the rules. Around the same time, the Committee of Advertising Practice’s compliance team contacted 20 advertisers who were featuring these products in their ads. In a follow up a couple of months later, around a quarter of those advertisers were still using named weight-loss prescription-online medicines in their ads.
The ASA is continuing to target a significant improvement in compliance with the rules and take strong action against any advertisers “who appear unwilling or unable to follow the rules”.
The notice also reminded advertisers of the following guidance:
- Do not include the names of prescription-only medicines in ads, either by reference to its brand name or active ingredient.
- Promote the consultation, not the prescription-only medicine.
- Be careful around indirectly promoting a prescription-only medicine, such as by advertising the medication without identifying it by name.
Why this matters:
As weight-loss prescription-only medications grow in popularity, it is important that any ads for these products comply with the rules. The findings so far suggest that there are many advertisers who do not comply with the rules. The ASA, the MHRA and GPhC are committed to bringing enforcement action, if necessary, against any of these type of advertisers. It is therefore important that advertisers comply with the guidance as set out in the enforcement notice and ensure that their ads are compliant.
