Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss. The ads were identified for investigation following intelligence gathering by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules.
Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad for Cloud Pharmacy, seen on 2 October 2024, featured an image of an apparent conversation between two friends on a messaging app. The first message’s text stated, “Hey, you know those new weight loss treatments you’re using? I want to try them but too nervous to start”, to which the reply stated, “Don’t be, just get them from Cloud Pharmacy like I did! They have UK registered clinical experts and are cheap without tying you into a subscription”. Underneath was a button labelled “Order now”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it promoted prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public.
Response
Cloud Pharmacy did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Cloud Pharmacy’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries, and told them to do so in the future.
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that POMs (prescription-only medicines) or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
The ad portrayed a fictional conversation between friends, one of whom said they were nervous about trying “those new weight loss treatments”, to which the other told her not to be, and to “get them from Cloud Pharmacy”, also stating that they were “cheap” and did not tie users to a subscription.
The ad linked to a landing page on the Cloud Pharmacy website via the “Order now” button. Text near the top of the page stated, “…we offer a range of prescription medications clinically proven to help people lose weight […] See our full range of weight loss medications here”. That was followed by a series of prominent images of different weight-loss medications and their prices, including Orlistat (120mg), Saxenda, Wegovy, Mysimba, Xenical and Mounjaro, all of which were POMs. Text further down the page stated “…you may benefit from weight loss tablets or injections for weight loss […] …weight loss tablets and weight loss pens can help kick start your weight loss journey. These include Saxenda, Wegovy and Mounjaro.” Under a section titled “Weight Loss Pen”, further text stated, “A new type of medication in the UK is Saxenda, an injectable medicine”.
We acknowledged that text at the top of the landing page stated, “Start your online consultation” and “Before selecting a treatment you must complete an online consultation to ensure you receive the best available treatments for your consultation”. We noted that the landing page did not refer to any other treatment options, and we therefore considered that there was a clear implication that weight-loss POMs would be the outcome of a consultation.
We sought advice from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). They expressed concern that the proactive provision of a direct link to a webpage or landing page that did not require any searching from the consumer to access that information could be analogous to that of a website homepage. MHRA guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services outlined that homepages should focus on medical conditions and the service provided, and should not include any reference to named POMs.
For the above reasons, we considered that the ad promoted POMs to the public, and concluded that it breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told PharmaRx Ltd t/a Cloud Pharmacy not to promote POMs to the public in future. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
