Advert - Sanofi – CASE/0689/08/25

For a Sunday Express article, a Health Service Journal article and two related social media posts by its employees, which promoted Sanofi’s medicine, Beyfortus (nirsevimab) to the public, and included misleading claims and comparisons with Pfizer’s vaccine (thereby disparaging it), Sanofi was ruled in breach of the following clauses of the 2024 Code:

Clause 2 - Bringing discredit upon, and reducing confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry

Clause 5.1 - Failing to maintain high standards

Clause 6.1 - Providing misleading information

Clause 6.2 - Making an unsubstantiated claim

Clause 6.6 - Disparaging another company’s medicine

Clause 8.1 - Failing to certify promotional material

Clause 26.1 - Advertising a prescription only medicine to the public

Clause 26.2 - Providing unbalanced information and encouraging members of the public to ask for a specific prescription only medicine

In addition, the Code of Practice Appeal Board imposed a public reprimand and required Sanofi to provide the Appeal Board with a copy of its third-party audit report, and to appear at the Appeal Board meeting in October 2026 to provide details of the actions it has taken, and is taking, as a result of the third-party audit. The Appeal Board reserved the decision regarding the application of additional sanctions until consideration of this information.