Medicines, remedies and therapies

Helpful information on the advertising rules for medicines, remedies and therapies and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

Before advertisers can make medicinal claims in their ads – a claim that a product can treat or prevent disease, injury, ailment or adverse condition - they must be sure their product is classified as a medicine under the advertising rules. This means the product needs to be classified by the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a medicine and the advertisers must hold the relevant licence before marketing the product in the UK. All ads for the product then must conform with this licence and with the product’s summary of product characteristics (SPC).

Once this has been established, ads must then follow the rules for medicines which include: not addressing children, not suggesting the products effects are guaranteed or absolutely safe with no side-effects, and not using health professionals or celebrities to endorse the medicine. Prescription-only medicines are prohibited from being advertised to the public and claims for so-called herbal alternatives are equally likely to be problematic.

For homeopathic medicinal products registered in the UK, ads must include a warning to consult a doctor if symptoms persist. Likewise, it is mandatory for ads for traditional herbal medicinal products to include a statement that makes reference to the fact the product is “based on traditional use only” and to not infer evidence for the product’s efficacy is based on clinical trial data.

Advertising in the health industry is not just confined to medicines and products and there are also strict rules for healthcare professionals advertising their services. This includes homeopathy, osteopathy and chiropractic services. The advertising rules provide a detailed list of conditions that these professionals can claim in their ads to treat, and a detailed list of those they cannot. It is important all these professionals are able to back up any claims made in their ads, including in testimonials, with robust evidence and that they avoid claiming they can “cure”, “prevent” or “heal” conditions with their therapies.

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Latest rulings

Omega Pharma Ltd
- Upheld in part
- Television
- 23 November 2016
A TV ad for Urostemol, seen in August 2015, featured an older male actor getting out of bed, while on-screen text stated "Frequent urge to urinate?" and "Often getting up at night?". During this scene a voice-over stated, "Frequent urge to urinate? Often having to get up at night?" and continued "If your bladder con...
ActiveSignal Ltd t/a Equiwinner
- Upheld
- Internet (on own site)
- 12 October 2016
The website www.equiwinner.com, seen on 8 June 2016, included various claims about the the Equiwinner patch. They included “… the only product designed to restore normal blood pressure in a horse is Equiwinner, which comes with a guarantee that it will restore normal circulation. After a ten day course of Equiwinner...
ABC Counselling Services
- Upheld
- Internet (classified)
- 03 August 2016
Two directory entries for ABC Counselling Services, seen in May 2016:

a. The first ad included the claims “As a member of the BACP, ABC Counselling Services are bound by their ethical framework of good practice … run by Alan Campbell … Memberships BACP - British Association for Counselling and Psychothera...
EnteroMed Ltd
- Upheld in part
- Poster, Internet (on own site)
- 03 August 2016
A poster and website for an oral gel:

a. The poster, seen on 12 November 2015, stated “STOMACH BUGS? Viral or bacterial Diarrhoea? ENTEROSGEL … Helps to cleanse the gut from viruses and bacterial toxins. For children and adults … diarrhoea … Indigestion … Travellers [sic] tummy”. The ad included an image ...

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Medicines, remedies and therapies

Helpful information on the advertising rules for medicines, remedies and therapies and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.

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11 Medicines, medical devices, treatments and health