1st First Italian National Nutraceutical Forum for Gynaecology and Obstetrics
Di Renzo Regulatory Affairs took part to the 1st Italian National Nutraceutical Forum for Gynaecology and Obstetrics, that took place in Milan on 20 and 21 June 2019.
The event was addressed to doctors, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, biologists and general practitioners; the audience was therefore made of experts from the health sector.
The slogan of the Forum was a quote from Hippocrates: ‘Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food’, so topics regarding the wellbeing of people linked to nutraceutical were addressed.
The first session of the event was mainly dedicated to regulatory aspects of food supplements and medicinal devices, then moving to a multidiscipline approach to nutrition with intervention connected with the point of view of the different stakeholders (gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, dermatologist, nutritionist, food manufacturer and chef).
The second day was instead mostly dedicated to themes related to women’s fertility and wellbeing, in particularly during menopause.
During the first session, Dr. Federica Montozzi made a long and detailed speech on regulatory aspects of this sector. In particular, the theme treated was ‘Health claim and marketing communication for Food Supplements and Medical Devices’; including all regulatory aspects to be taken into account in the preparation of advertisements on these two categories of products.
As for Medical Devices, it is important to underline that not all types of advertising requires an authorisation and that not all Medical Devices can be advertised.
The company advertising (referred the sole company and not to the products), for instance, is not subject to authorisation, provided that it does not include any health information on the MDs marketed by the company. It is therefore necessary to carefully assess an advertising proposal in order to comply with the regulations. Sanctions are in fact provided for for trespassers, including the withdrawal of the unauthorised and/or uncompliant material as well as administrative measures and fines.
On the other hand, advertising referred to food supplements does not require any preliminary authorisation from the Ministry, therefore any responsibility for the compliance with the regulations falls on the person/company disseminating the advertising materials.
However, in this sector there are many occasions for non conformity, as only the indications approved for each ingredient are admitted in the presentation and in the advertisement of the product, with few options to change the claims.
The advice is to ask professionals of this sector for the review of advertisements.
