Pfizer has been forced to amend one of its adverts after it was found to be making an unauthorised health claim.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint about the drug firm’s advert for its IMEDEEN Advanced Beauty Shot, a collagen drink, in May 2017.

The ad stated the product could “reach your deep dermal layer where creams cannot reach”.

It was challenged by just one complainant, who referred to the CAP Code on nutrition and health claim regulations.

Pfizer, based in Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, tried to defend its actions, saying it was a general health claim. It understood that a general health claim was a reference to a general non-specific benefit of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related well-being.

It also highlighted that the claim had been approved by the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB) – a national trade association that represents manufacturers of branded over-the-counter medicines and food supplements – prior to the ad being published.

But ASA upheld the complaint saying the claim implied a “specific physiological action on the body” which would be beneficial to health, in particular by reaching and acting on an area that other products might not reach.

The ASA’s online report stated: “As such, we disagreed with Pfizer that the claim was a general health claim.

“We considered it was a specific health claim.

“We told Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd not to make unauthorised health claims for their products. The ad must not appear again in its current form.”

A statement from Pfizer said: “Pfizer acknowledges the ASA ruling that one of our IMEDEEN Advanced Beauty Shot advertising claims has been deemed in breach of the CAP Code.

“As we stated to the ASA, it is our belief that the claim (reach your deep dermal layer where creams cannot reach/works where creams can’t reach) and the respective advertisement were in line with advertising standards for food supplements.

“Pfizer is committed to responsible advertising and, as per standard practice, the claim and the full advertisement had been provided to the PAGB and been fully approved prior to it being published. We are now working to make the necessary changes to ensure all future advertisements are considered fully compliant.”