ASA Crackdown on Untested Coronavirus Cures and Treatments

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken steps to remove online ads promoting untested cures and treatments for Coronavirus.

A number of complaints have been raised against companies using their websites and social media accounts to advertise unlicensed IV booster drip treatments for Coronavirus.

Click here to view complaint against Cosmetic Medical Advice UK Ltd

Click here to view complaint against Reviv UK Ltd

Click here to view complaint against The Private Harley Street Clinic

These companies are offering products which are not licensed as a medicine by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or European Medicines Agency (EMA).

As the ASA makes clear, “medicinal claims and indications could be made only for a medicinal product that was licensed by the MHRA or under the auspices of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A product could be rendered medicinal by its functional effect on the body, or by presenting itself as having properties for treating or preventing disease. A medicinal claim was a claim that a product or its constituents could be used with a view to making a medical diagnosis or could treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition.”

“Marketing communications for licensed medicines must conform with the licence and the product’s SPC.”

The ASA has ruled that none of the advertisements may appear again in their current form. While components of some of these treatments may be licensed to treat other medical conditions, none of them have been licensed to treat Coronavirus.

Consumers are being advised to take a cautious approach to anybody offering high dose vitamin and IV drip treatments. News of any cure or treatment should come from your government and authorised medical officials; you are unlikely to hear of any real treatment from an ad online.