MHRA upholds three advertising complaints
Three complaints about inappropriate medicines advertising have been upheld by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The MHRA identified advertisements for GlaxoSmithKline’s Lamictal
(lamotrigine) in a range of health journals early this year which claimed “Lamictal
did not cause weight gain” and “Lamictal did not impair cognitive
function”. The MHRA said that available evidence did not justify
the first claim and that the second claim was misleading.
A health care professional complained that an advertisement in the March
2004 issue of Practical Parenting promoted single vaccines for which
no marketing authorisations were in force. The company provided an assurance
that future advertising would comply with the law and MHRA guidelines.
The third complaint was made by a rival company of Sandoz, which alleged
that an advertisement for pravastatin sodium tablets in the 14 August
issue of Chemist & Druggist failed to include prescribing information
compatible with the product’s SPC. Sandoz promised that future
advertisements would include the required abbreviated prescribing information. |
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