Blue Guide: advertising and promotion of medicines in the UK
Updated 31 December 2020
© Crown copyright 2020
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-guide-advertising-and-promoting-medicines/blue-guide-advertising-and-promotion-of-medicines-in-the-uk
Third Edition
Second revision - July 2019
MHRA contact points for advice on advertising and promotion of medicines
Advertising Standards and Outreach Unit
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
10 South Colonnade
London
E14 4PU
General advice and information on advertising and promotion of medicines is available on the MHRA website
For general enquiries about advertising of licensed medicines and legislation
For enquiries about advertising policy
Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 3080 6523/6717
For enquiries about advertising policy Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 3080 7771/6765/6039
For general enquiries about the MHRA:
Customer Services E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 020 3080 6000
Record of changes - Third edition
The Third Edition of the Blue Guide was published in August 2012. It has been made available as an online resource rather than a printed publication with the expectation that it would be a dynamic document updated at regular intervals as required.
The first set of changes to specific sections were made in September 2014 to reflect legal changes to simplify the information requirements for advertising to healthcare professionals and other suppliers of medicines (change 1 below) and additional guidance on other issues prompted by casework.
Further administrative updates were made in July 2019.
The following updates have been made:
September 2014: 1. Changes to reflect the Human Medicines (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2014 (primarily sections 6.4 and 6.5 and annexes 1, 4 and 5). 2. Additional advice on prohibited gifts and benefits (section 6.14) 3. Updated guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services (section 7.3 and appendix 6). 4. Updated information about adverse drug reaction reporting (section 7.6). 5. Additional clarification concerning advertising of medicines for use in pregnancy (Appendix 3). 6. Update to contact details for MHRA staff. 7. Updated information about NICE, ABPI and PMCPA. July 2019: 1. Addition of information about General Pharmaceutical Council guidance and the Distance Selling Logo to the guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services (appendix 6). 2. Removal or updating of references to the Office of Fair Trading (sections 3.4 and 10.2) and updated information about Radiocentre (section 10.3). 3. Update to MHRA contact detail