The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) this week (February 10) revealed that online pharmacy Habitual Healthcare Ltd “amended its marketing practices…to ensure that prescription-only medicines (POMs) for weight loss are not promoted to the public”.
In August, a C+D investigation revealed that TikTok influencers were offering “25% off” discount codes for followers to “order Mounjaro” from Habitual.
Now, the online pharmacy has come under fire from the medicines regulator following “a complaint”, the MHRA said.
Read more: Revealed: Online pharmacies use ‘TikTok stars’ to shift discount weight loss jabs
It added that following its action, Habitual deactivated “unique discount codes given to content creators”.
The pharmacy asked “content creators to remove unique tracking links to the Habitual website”, the MHRA said.
And Habitual has updated “internal procedures for collaborating with content creators in future”, it added.
“Review commercial relationships”
“The company informed the MHRA that [it] had taken steps to ensure that arrangements with content creators on social media with whom [it] worked were in compliance with the advertising regulations,” the regulator said.
“The MHRA would encourage all treatment service providers to review their commercial relationships with third parties as required to ensure all parties comply with the advertising regulations,” it added.
Read more: ‘New front line’: MHRA removes 150 social media posts selling fake weight loss drugs
“The homepage of the Habitual website was also reviewed and updated to ensure no promotion of prescription medicines,” it said.
C+D approached Habitual for comment.
“Not licensed for weight loss”
Meanwhile, the regulator this week also came down on five companies “offering medicinal treatment services for weight loss” following complaints.
Among them were “Expert Health Ltd”, which trades as Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor, and pharmacy technology provider Healthera Ltd.
Read more: Repeat offender online pharmacy warned over weight loss POM ads
“We advised some of the relevant companies above that images of, or information about, medicines that are not licensed for weight loss should not be presented as such on their webpages or materials,” the MHRA said, adding that they have now “amended their advertising”.
“We reminded them that the suitability of a particular product as part of a weight management service should be a professional prescribing decision based on a consultation,” it added.
C+D approached both companies for comment.
Online crackdown
Meanwhile, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) last week published new rules banning online pharmacies from prescribing high-risk medicine based on online questionnaires alone.
It stressed they must “independently verify” patients’ weight and height before prescribing weight loss drugs in particular.
Read more: GPhC: Photo verification for weight loss drugs ‘not appropriate’
Days after the guidance’s publication, “leading online pharmacy” Chemist4U claimed that online pharmacies can “confirm patient information through recent photographs, provided they can verify the individual’s identity and the photo’s recency”.
But C+D this week revealed that the GPhC plans to publish additional guidance clarifying that it would “not be appropriate” for online pharmacies to prescribe high-risk medicines – including weight loss injections – based on a photograph or pre-recorded video.
