Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that online vendors of medical (a) products and (b) treatments to consumers in the UK provide medical evidence that a (i) product and (ii) treatment delivers a clinical benefit; and if he will make a statement.

In the United Kingdom, online vendors of medicines are permitted to sell licensed medicines which have been tested for safety, quality and efficacy. In addition, under provisions in the European Falsified Medicines Directive, Member States have introduced national arrangements to register websites of suppliers of medicines operating online. This has involved the establishment of a national website and the adoption of a common European Union logo. All websites supplying medicines online are required to display the EU logo and provide a hyperlink to the national website of the Member State in which the person offering to sell medicines is established.

All medical devices offered for sale, including those offered for sale by online vendors, may only make claims about clinical benefits that are consistent with the clinical evidence available for the device. All but the lowest risk medical devices are subject to scrutiny by third party notified bodies that includes consideration of the medical claims made by a manufacturer of a device and their consistency with the clinical evidence presented.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the competent authority for regulation of medicines and medical devices and also acts as the law enforcement authority.

Any reported breach, or suspected breach, of legal requirements is investigated and relevant action taken.

It is the responsibility of healthcare professionals to establish the clinical benefit of any treatment taking account of the needs of the individual patient.