Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss. This ad was identified for investigation following a complaint received. See also related rulings published on 9 July 2025, 17 December 2025, 11 February 2026, 18 February 2026, 8 April 2026 and 27 May 2026.
Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad and website for pharmacyonline.co.uk, seen on 4 February 2026:
a. The paid-for Meta ad included text that stated “If you’ve spent years watching your weight go up and down, then our weight loss programme could be for you”.
b. The website www.pharmacyonline.co.uk, contained a banner across the top that stated “Use code: W20 for £20 off Wegovy Consultations”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ads breached the Code because they promoted POMs to the public.
Response
Express Healthcare Ltd t/a pharmacyonline.co.uk did not respond to the ASA’s enquires.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Express Healthcare Ltd t/a pharmacyonline.co.uk’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
The CAP Code stated that POMs or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
Ad (a) clicked through to an initial webpage with two options, “View treatments” and “Learn more”. We considered that this initial page was not the landing page, rather a filtering page that directed consumers to a landing page akin to a home page, based on their selection.
The landing page accessed from ad (a) via the “View treatments” option on the filtering page contained a heading titled “Weigh loss injections”, an image of a Mounjaro weight-loss pen, and listed the treatments: “Mounjaro Injections” (tirzepatide), “Wegovy Injections” (semaglutide), “Saxendra Injections” (liraglutide) and “Nevolat Injections” (liraglutide), all of which were POMs.
The landing page accessed via the “Learn more” option in ad (a) provided information on the range of medications offered, and featured text stating “[…] including injectable medications such as Wegovy and Saxendra, as well as weight loss tablets and capsules, such as Xenical and Orlistat […]”. We understood that all injectable forms of weight-loss medication were POMs, including Wegovy and Saxendra. Further, we understood that orlistat 120 mg capsules were POMs, and that Xenical was a brand of orlistat 120 mg capsules, and therefore also a POM. [That landing page also contained a banner which stated “Use code: W20 for £20 off Wegovy Consultations”, which we further considered a reference to a POM.
We considered that consumers who had clicked on either option on the filtering page from ad (a) (“Learn more” or “View treatments”) were actively presented with POMs, as opposed to information about particular conditions and diseases. We therefore considered that because the landing pages linked to from ad (a), via a filtering page, referenced POMs, ad (a) promoted POMs to the public.
Ad (b), a website home page, contained a banner which stated “Use code: W20 for £20 off Wegovy Consultations”.
We therefore considered that because ad (b), a website home page, referenced Wegovy, it also promoted a POM to the public.
In relation to both ads, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency expressed concern that the advertisement was likely to lead to the use of a POM.
Because the ads promoted POMs to the public, we concluded that they breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Express Healthcare Ltd t/a pharmacyonline.co.uk not to promote POMs to the public in future. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
