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The UK advertising regulator has upheld a complaint against online pharmacy Numan over Facebook ads described as containing misleading claims about low testosterone. 

In two paid-for Facebook ads seen in January 2026 that promoted its £74.50 blood testing services, Numan made claims that “40% of men with obesity have low testosterone” and that “95% of men with low testosterone are undiagnosed”.

The claims were respectively based on a US population-level prevalence study and a UK report based on a survey of 974 men. 

Numan, which also offers testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), said the ads were aimed at raising awareness of testosterone-related health issues and encouraging men in at-risk groups to consider getting tested. 

Considering the case, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that the first claim was based on a misinterpretation of the American study, which was carried out in 2006 and published in 2010.

The citation provided by Numan in its ad suggested that the ‘40 per cent of men with obesity’ finding was based on the entire study cohort of 1,849 men, when in fact it applied to a smaller group of 489 non-diabetic men.

The ASA also said Numan’s ad did not make clear that the study findings did not apply to men aged below 45.

The claim that 95 per cent of men with low testosterone are undiagnosed was also found to rely on a misinterpretation, as the relevant UK study looked at men with symptoms of low testosterone rather than men who had been diagnosed.

Numan accepted there had been an “inadvertent and genuine error” in interpreting the studies and told the ASA it had reviewed its processes for substantiating claims “so that statistics drawn from research would be represented accurately in future”.

In another ruling published this week, the ASA also upheld a complaint against BioID Health, a CQC-regulated company, after it found two paid-for Facebook ads misled the public that GPs are “insufficiently thorough” with regard to measuring patients’ testosterone levels.