Why this site carries no codes, no paid links and no sponsored rows

Readers ask, reasonably, why a price comparison site carries none of the codes, commission links and featured providers that most comparison sites live on. Part of the answer is a choice: the only revenue of The Dose Club is the Dose Club Plus subscription, and taking money from the pharmacies it compares would compromise the comparison. The rest of the answer is law. This article sets out the three bodies of rules and how each one shapes what you see. It is the publisher's position, and the sources are listed so you can read the rules yourself.

The ban on advertising prescription only medicines

Wegovy and Mounjaro are prescription only medicines. Regulation 284 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 says: "A person may not publish an advertisement that is likely to lead to the use of a prescription only medicine." The MHRA enforces it. The CAP Code, the UK's code for non-broadcast advertising administered by the Advertising Standards Authority, carries the same rule at 12.12: "Prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public."

The regulations also say what is not an advertisement. Regulation 7 excludes "reference material and announcements of a factual and informative nature", including trade catalogues and "price lists, provided that no product claim is made". A factual price list that makes no claim about the medicine is on the right side of that line. In the publisher's reading, an offer, a code or a sponsored row that steers a reader towards a particular supplier of a prescription only medicine moves a page from a price list towards an advertisement, and The Dose Club does not publish one. That is why the tables show standard prices, mark the lowest listed price and say nothing about what any medicine does.

Hidden paid content and fake reviews

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists, in its Schedule 20, commercial practices that are unfair in all circumstances. Two matter here. Paragraph 12 bans "using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer". Paragraph 13 bans "submitting, or commissioning another person to submit or write" a fake consumer review or "a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised", and bans publishing reviews in a misleading way or without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to keep fake and concealed-incentive reviews out.

The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance says these provisions "apply to commercial practices which happen from 6 April 2025 onwards". Announcing the regime, the CMA said that where a company infringes consumer protection law it "can fine them up to 10% of their global turnover", and described the ban on "drip pricing", where shoppers are shown an initial price and more fees are added as they proceed with the purchase.

How the rules shape the site

• No codes and no offers. The tables carry standard prices only. A code is a promotion, and promotions sit on the advertising side of the line drawn by regulation 7.
• No commission links. Every outbound link to a provider is a plain link that earns nothing, marked so that search engines do not treat it as an endorsement. The Dose Club does not know whether a reader goes on to order, and has no tracking that could tell it.
• No sponsored rows and no paid rankings. Rows sort by price and no provider can pay to move. Paragraph 12 of Schedule 20 would in any case require a paid row to be labelled as paid. A comparison with labelled paid rows is a different product, and the publisher chose not to build it.
• Complete monthly costs. Every figure includes the compulsory consultation and delivery fees, which is the opposite of drip pricing: the number in the table is the number the provider charges for the month.
• Reviews under the same rules. Community ratings on provider pages come from members' own posts, with report and block on every one, and no member is paid or rewarded for a review. Reputation points reward price reports that staff have verified against the provider's page, which is a different thing from a review.

What this means for a figure in the table

A standard price can be higher than an introductory price a provider offers for a first month. The table shows the standard price because that is the figure that repeats, and the provider's own website shows any offer it runs. The disclaimer under every table says the rest: prices can change at any time, the provider's website is the place to confirm them, and The Dose Club neither sells nor prescribes and receives no payment from listed providers. The law is in the sources below, and the ASA, the MHRA and the CMA are the bodies that interpret it.

Sources

• The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 284, Prescription only medicines: legislation.gov.uk
• The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 7, Advertisements relating to medicinal products: legislation.gov.uk
• CAP Code, section 12, Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products: asa.org.uk
• Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20: legislation.gov.uk
• Competition and Markets Authority, Unfair commercial practices guidance (CMA207): gov.uk
• Competition and Markets Authority, press release of 7 April 2025 on the new consumer protection regime: gov.uk

This article is information, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber about your treatment.