Alarm over lax oversight of weight loss drug ads that could harm patients

UK organisations responsible for protecting the public from prescription-only drug adverts are putting patients at risk from the harms of weight loss drugs by not enforcing the law, reveals an investigation published by The BMJ today. Legal responsibility for regulating adverts for medicines in the UK rests with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on behalf of health ministers. But […]

‘Patient influencers’ the new frontier in direct-to-consumer drug marketing

So began a 2015 post by then-pregnant celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian, singing the praises of a “#morningsickness” drug called Diclegis to her tens of millions of followers on Instagram. “It’s been studied and there’s no increased risk to the baby,” she wrote, alongside a smiling selfie of her holding the pill bottle. “I’m so excited and happy with the results.” […]