Non-prescription medicines are advertised extensively in the media. It is important to ensure that such advertisements are responsible, ethical and do not mislead the buyer.
Prohibited advertising practices
In Latvia, only non-prescription medicines, as well as vaccines are allowed to be advertised. The law prohibits advertisements which:
- offer medicines as a gift for another purchase
- offer a gift for the purchase of medicines
- promise a discount for medicines or free medicines
- declare that medicines are safe (without a proper assessment), not toxic and do not cause addiction
There is a prohibition on advertising medicinal products that are not registered in Latvia or by the European Medicines Agency.
The promotional distribution of medicine is prohibited.
note The marketing of medicines is also regulated on the EU level via legislation and the European medicines regulatory network.
Rules of advertising
Regulations prescribe different rules of advertising for the general public and specialists, but the key rules are that:
- information in the advertising must be truthful
- it must encourage rational use of the medicine
- it must not be misleading
- it complies with the laws on comparative advertising
- it must include a warning “Unreasonable use of medicinal products is harmful for your health”