Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the safety, and (2) the effectiveness, of using IV vitamin drips and other related therapies offered by retail clinics.

If retail clinics are intending to administer vitamin drips and other related therapies intravenously for a medicinal purpose then the products and associated advertising must be in compliance with all relevant aspects of medicines legislation which includes an assessment of the safety quality and efficacy for licensed medicines.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the United Kingdom body responsible for ensuring that medicines work and are acceptably safe.

Intravenous drips which are not intended for a medical purpose are not medicines and these products fall outside the MHRA’s jurisdiction.