The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7325 p704
13 November 2004

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MHRA rejects alleged advertising breaches

Two recent newspaper reports and a television advertisement did not break the rules on advertising medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has decided.

The MHRA ruled that a report on the effectiveness of Cialis (tadalafil) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in a September issue of the News of the World was not promotional. The newspaper’s editor’s justification — that the News of the World had “covered stories of this nature for many years in a sensible and popular manner” — was accepted.

An article in the Daily Mail was also investigated because it referred to the use of the currently unlicensed anticoagulant Exanta (ximelagatran). After obtaining copies of information supplied by the manufacturer to the journalist who wrote the article, the MHRA ruled that the information gave details of the progress of ximelagatran through drug discovery and development and was not promotional.

A complaint from a member of the public about a television advertisement for Senokot was also rejected.