The ASA has published a batch of rulings on advertising for weight-loss medicines, including its first rulings concerning ads for oral GLP-1 weight-loss treatments. The decisions reinforce two important points:
- medicines cannot be promoted before they have the necessary marketing authorisation, and
- avoiding the name or image of a prescription-only medicine (POM) will not necessarily prevent an ad from being regarded as promoting it.
The ASA published five rulings which involved promoting POMs, with two additionally concerning medicinal claims and unlicensed products.
The rulings form part of a much wider regulatory focus on weight-loss advertising. Earlier this year, the ASA reported that it had assessed around 900 ads from 38 advertisers as likely to breach the rules on promoting weight-loss POMs, although targeted enforcement had pushed compliance with its Enforcement Notice to 99% by January 2026.
Simple Online Pharmacy: promoting an oral GLP-1 before authorisation
Simple Online Healthcare Ltd advertised a new oral GLP-1 weight-loss treatment while it was still awaiting regulatory approval. The advertising encouraged consumers to join a waiting list for a new oral weight-management medicine. An ad appeared on 1 June 2026, before the first oral GLP-1 tablet for weight management obtained UK authorisation on 11 June.
Under the CAP Code, medicinal products must have the necessary marketing authorisation before they can be advertised, and medicinal claims cannot be made for unauthorised medicines. Once the treatment had been authorised, it was classified as a POM, bringing the separate prohibition on advertising POMs to the public into play. The ASA therefore concluded that the Simple ads made medicinal claims and promoted unlicensed products, as well as promoting POMs to the public.
Pharmacy Online: pre-orders do not avoid the POM prohibition
The ASA reached similar conclusions about advertising by Express Healthcare Ltd. Its advertising included paid Meta ads and website material concerning oral weight-management medicines, including a website pop-up inviting consumers to "pre-order" the oral Wegovy treatment. The ASA found that the advertising made medicinal claims and promoted unlicensed products, as well as promoting POMs directly to the public.
The other three decisions address advertising weight-loss medicines without expressly identifying the medicine concerned.
MedExpress: an unnamed medicine can still be a POM promotion
The ASA issued an upheld ruling about an ad from MedExpress Enterprises, finding that a paid-for Facebook ad promoted POMs to the public. It is important to note that the ASA's approach goes beyond looking for prohibited product names. Its wider enforcement work has already identified not only named medicines and pictures of branded injection pens as problematic, but also wording that implies POMs.
Juniper: the overall impression matters
The ASA similarly upheld a paid-for Google search ad from Juniper Technologies UK Ltd, concluding that it promoted POMs to the public. Again, the medicine did not need to be expressly named.
This builds on the ASA's existing approach to weight-loss advertising. For example, it has previously found that expressions such as "Obesity Treatment Jab" could promote POMs because consumers were likely to understand them as referring to injectable weight-loss medication, all forms of which were POMs.
The Care Pharmacy: generic language is not necessarily safe
Finally, the ASA issued an upheld ruling against Care Pharma Bradford Ltd over a paid-for Google search ad, again concluding that it promoted POMs to members of the public. The ASA's position is that the overall content and context of the ad can communicate to consumers that a POM is being promoted even without an explicit product reference.
What are the lessons to be learned from these rulings?
Advertisers should not advertise a prospective treatment or making medicinal claims for it before it has been authorised. That can include apparently preliminary activity such as encouraging consumers to join a waiting list, register an interest or pre-order. After authorisation, if the medicine is prescription-only, cannot be advertised to the general public.
Second, it's not enough to simply avoid naming the drug. References to medicated weight loss, oral or injectable treatments, imagery, surrounding website content and consumers' existing understanding of the GLP-1 market can all contribute to the overall impression of an ad.
The ASA has said that it will continue monitoring advertising and emerging trends for these medicines, working with the MHRA and the General Pharmaceutical Council.
