Healthcare advertising in Italy is regulated to ensure patient safety, prevent misleading claims, and allow consumers to make informed choices. Here's an overview:
- Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines - The main products allowed to be directly advertised to the public. This includes analgesics, cold remedies, allergics, digestion aids, dermatological creams, etc.
- Prescription medication - Cannot be marketed directly to patients, only to medical professionals. Pharma ads require scientific evidence backing for claims and balance around treatment risks. Strict fines for violations.
- Medical devices - Rules on advertising to public and healthcare providers requiring truthful information on product safety, specs and intended uses per EU regulations.
- Health services - Hospitals, clinics, practices allowed to advertise services, areas of specialization and treatment options to the public, but cannot make unsupported superiority claims.
- Surgery/aesthetics - Advertising must be discreet and responsible, avoiding unrealistic expectations around physical enhancements, guarantees of satisfaction, or trivializing risks of procedures.
- Alternative medicine - Heavily restricted around claims of health benefits, critiques of mainstream medicine, promises to cure, improving quality of life, disease prevention, etc.
The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) monitors and penalizes players for non-compliance depending on the severity, repeat offenses, audience reached, etc. fines up to €180,000.
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