The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7473 p396
13 October 2007

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Drug promotion claims upheld

Two complaints about the promotion of medicines — one of them referred to the UK authorities by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) — have been upheld recently by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

The EMEA referred to the MHRA a dispute between Actelion Pharmaceuticals and Encysive (UK) Ltd following an allegation that Encysive had improperly promoted Thelin (sitaxentan sodium) at a British Society of Rheumatology meeting. The MHRA ruled that the company had promoted an unlicensed dose and had used selective safety data to exaggerate the properties of the product.

The other upheld complaint concerned a homoeopathic product — No-Jet-Lag — promoted by travel supplies company Magellans. The MHRA ruled that the advertisement related to an unlicensed product.

Six further complaints about the promotion of various medicines were rejected.