Simple Online Pharmacy has been rapped by the advertising watchdog on two counts over weight-loss pill ads, including promoting prescription-only medicine to the public.
The online pharmacy also jumped the gun on regulatory approval by advertising the treatment on 1 June, before the MHRA licenced Wegovy pills on 11 June and the Foundayo tablet on 10 August 2026. The paid-for Instagram ad said text “No needle, coming soon”, and invited consumers to “join the waitlist”. Text at the bottom of the ad said “New oral weight management…”
The Advertising Standards Authority concluded it breached rules because it “made medicinal claims for, and promoted, products which were not authorised at the time the ad was seen”.
A second paid-for ad was seen on Meta on 25 June 2026, showing a mock-up newspaper with the headline “Oral weight management approved in the UK”. Smaller text said: “16% weight loss”, “No more needles” and “No fridge”.
Regulator ‘very concerned’ by MedExpress weight-loss prescription investigation
The ASA said consumers would understand it to be to be referring to pre-existing weight-loss injections that needed to be stored in the fridge, all of which were prescription-only medicines. Consumers were also likely to understand the advertised tablet to be an oral version of prescription-only weight-loss jabs. It was therefore an ad for a prescription-only medicine, the ASA concluded.
Ads for prescription-only medicine are by banned under the Committee of Advertising Practice Code.
The ASA has told Simple Online Pharmacy neither ad must appear again and not to promote prescription-only medicines to the public in future.
Simple Online Pharmacy told the regulator it had reviewed its advertising and implemented measures to ensure breaches were not repeated.
No comments yet