UK law prohibits the advertising of prescription-only medicines. Nevertheless, some online pharmacies are marketing Rx drugs from “skinny jabs” to high strength eczema treatments, essentially selling prescription medicines directly to consumers, explains AdverCheck managing director James Walmsley.
While regulators are cracking down on illegal practices, the growing market for prescription medicines is increasingly impinging on traditional consumer healthcare categories, Walmsley warns.
In this episode of Over The Counter, we get to the bottom of this fascinating issue and outline what firms need to know.
Timestamps
1:50 – Introductions
4:10 – What’s reshaping the UK consumer health industry?
8:00 – Issues with prescription medicines marketing in the UK
10:20 – What is the direct-to-consumer Rx market?
12:00 – Public health concerns
13:00 – Why consumer health companies should care
17:00 – Why are consumers choosing Rx over OTC?
20:50 – Regulator responses
25:50 – ASA’s proactive turn
Guest Bio
James is a pharmaceutical physician with 20 years industry experience in medical affairs and advertising review within the consumer healthcare sector. After working at Boots, James served as UK medical director for both Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Johnson and Johnson, leading the team responsible for advertising review.
AdverCheck Ltd was launched in 2022 by James and Lucy Rochford to provide specialist outsourced copy review and related services to the consumer healthcare sector and has worked with many major UK consumer healthcare companies.
