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I have a quandary. When it comes to regulations preventing the advertising of prescription weight loss medicines to the public, I can’t decide if memories are short or the messaging has been weak.     

It was September last year, a mere five months ago, when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) published a “joint enforcement notice” to provide “clarity” on the rules in what was a reaffirmation of their commitment to protect the public.

It's worth recapping what they said. “Advertisers should avoid language that refers to prescription-only medicines, such as ‘weight-loss injection’, ‘obesity treatment jab’ or ‘GLP-1’, imagery likely to be understood by consumers as denoting a prescription medicine and ads for general weight loss products or services that direct consumers to other ads.”

The GPhC said “action would be taken to tackle such ads”. Yet, it appears their message failed to penetrate. This week, I did a quick surf of the web and discovered sites that published images and prices of prescription weight loss drugs.

Gumtree had two Mounjaro and three Wegovy images all with prices clearly displayed as well as a ‘sponsored link’ for Orlistat 120mg capsules, with an image of the product and price, which took me to an online pharmacy.

I found another online pharmacy that displayed images and prices for Wegovy, Mounjaro and Orlistat 120mg capsules. The GPhC said it would investigate the pharmacy. 

The online platform, Depop, which describes itself as a “peer-to-peer circular fashion marketplace”, appeared to be advertising tirzepatide, brand name Mounjaro. About three hours after I contacted them, Depop removed the item from its website.

Shpock, a “marketplace and classifieds platform”, had an image of Wegovy with a £25 price tag. We contacted all the websites for an explanation.

Gumtree (whose guidelines prohibit the sale of POM or over-the-counter medicines on its platform), Shpock and the online pharmacy didn’t respond at the time of going to press. Maybe they weren’t aware of the regs or didn’t see the regulators’ reiteration of the rules last year. Perhaps they forgot. I guess these things take time to sink in.

Neil Trainis is the editor of Independent Community Pharmacist.