Regulator takes action against Tesco weight-loss advertising
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that the supermarket pharmacy had amended its advertising to ensure that prescription-only medicines for weight loss were not promoted to the public.
Tesco Pharmacy has amended its advertising following complaints about promotion of prescription-only weight-loss medicines
In a statement published on 7 July 2026, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken action against the pharmacy multiple “to ensure that prescription-only medicines (POMs) for weight loss are not promoted to the public, including indirect references to weight-loss injections or GLP-1 medication likely to lead a member of the public to request a POM”
The regulator said that Davies Pharmacy Havant, Southdowns Pharmacy Group and The Harper Clinic had also amended their advertising “following MHRA action on complaints”
The statement “relates to specific advertising action taken on a particular date and is no endorsement of the ongoing practices of the provider”, it said
According to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), POMs must not be advertised to the public, but the consultation service rather than the POM itself may be advertised
So far in 2026, 18 companies have been named by the MHRA for contravening advertising standards for weight-loss services
On 18 June 2026, the MHRA, ASA and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) issued a warning to businesses seeking to promote POMs, newly authorised medicines and those that do not yet have a marketing authorisation
They warned they had seen businesses promoting pipeline products, such as newer forms of oral and injectable products used for weight management, including promoting waiting lists for these products
At the time, Roz Gittins, chief pharmacy officer at the GPhC, said: “We will not hesitate to act where those that we register fail to meet our standards. This can include taking enforcement action against the pharmacy, the owner, the superintendent pharmacist, or individual registrants. We will continue to work collaboratively with other regulators to keep the public safe.”
On 28 May 2026, the MHRA criminal enforcement unit recovered around 12,000 doses of unlicensed weight-loss medicines from a property used to manufacture, assemble, and distribute products including retatrutide
Last updated 8 July 2026 14:59
Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ July 2026, Vol 320, No 8011;320(8011)::DOI:10.1211/PJ.2026.1.419112
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