MHRA upholds Tesco drug freebie complaint

Both a community pharmacist and a member of the public complained to the MHRA on March 20, 2006 about the free offer of medicines as an ‘on-the-shelf’ sales promotion in Tesco stores. The complainants alleged that an eight tablet pack of Nurofen Tablets was being given away with the purchase of a pack of Nurofen Heat patches.

The MHRA upheld the complaint and considered the promotion to be in breach of regulation 12 of the Medicines Advertising Regulations, which prohibits suppliers from giving medicines away free for a promotional purpose. The sale promotion was promptly withdrawn from all Tesco stores.

Tesco stated that an administrative error had occurred when the promotion was mistakenly loaded on the company’s computer system as a free offer rather than a discount.

“Medicines can have powerful effects and should not be given away like sweets,” said Jeremy Mean, MHRA policy group manager. “Companies can compete on price but promotions that include free medicines are not acceptable. We are grateful to the pharmacist and member of the public in alerting us to this and cannot stress enough the important part that the public and healthcare professionals play in telling us about misleading advertising or promotional offers for medicines.”