A look at the advertising rules surrounding weight loss injections and other prescription-only medicines
Since the start of this year, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has acted against nine advertisers who, against the law and the ASA rules, were seen to be promoting weight-loss medication to the public.1 Between February and June 2025, the ASA uncovered 10,000 adverts from 35 high-priority pharmacies that were potentially problematic. While most of the adverts did not mention a name of a weight loss prescription-only medicines (POMs), 80 were found to directly use or mention a named weight-loss drug name. Many were also seen to use images or strongly implied the use of weight-loss POMs without naming the drug, which is a breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code Rule 12.12.1
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in partnership with the ASA and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), released an updated Enforcement Notice in September 2025…
