Medicines in gift bags illegal

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The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7427 p596
18 November 2006

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Medicines in gift bags illegal

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Gift bag

Free samples of medicines may not be given away

Goodie-bags handed to guests at a pharmacy awards dinner last month were illegal because they contained free samples of medicines, including prescription-only packs of Goldshield-brand ranitidine 150mg tablets. Other samples contained in the gift bags included Bristol Laboratories paracetamol tablets and ibuprofen tablets.

Following a complaint to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Goldshield wrote to everyone who attended the event to ask for the ranitidine tablets back. Pharmacy Business, sponsor of the awards, agreed not to include medicines in gift bags again.

Annual report The first annual report of the MHRA Advertising Standards Unit was published last week. In the 12 months to August 2006, the MHRA received 172 complaints, of which 150 concerned medicines advertising: 84 of the complaints were upheld. The greatest number of complaints — 48 per cent — came from competitor companies. The report is the first to be produced by the standards unit as a result of a commitment given to Parliament following a House of Commons Health Select Committee inquiry into the influence of the pharmaceutical industry (PJ, 30 April 2005, p514).