Ad warning of fake drugs reaches small screen

A notorious advert warning of the dangers of buying medicines from unregulated websites - which shows a man taking a pill and regurgitating a rat - has had its first airing on terrestrial television in the UK.

The ad was due to be shown on the UK's Channel 4 network yesterday (November 3) but only after 11pm as its content was considered too shocking to be viewable earlier in the evening. Prior to this the ad had only been seen in cinemas.

Earlier this year, the UK Advertising Standards Authority rejected complaints that the ad was too graphic and disturbing, saying it "was intended to raise awareness of a serious issue and was designed to be hard-hitting so as to achieve the desired impact."

The ad is part of a wider campaign warning of the risks associated with counterfeit drugs and is sponsored by Pfizer, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), and medical charities the Patients Association and Heart UK.

The 'Get real, get a prescription' public awareness campaign also includes a national billboard poster campaign and a consumer roadshow touring seven UK cities over the next week. The sponsors have also commissioned an interactive game in collaboration with The Sun newspaper to highlight the dangers.

According to the MHRA more than one-in-seven or around 15 per cent of British adults "bypasses the healthcare system to get hold of prescription-only medicines without a prescription," a practice which it says is putting people’s health and potentially lives at risk.

A survey carried out by UK medical newspaper GP earlier this year found that 25 per cent of doctors in the UK claim to have treated at least one patient for side effects caused by medicines bought online.

More information is available here.

Not seen the ad yet? Here it is again:

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