Authorities to strengthen rules on Internet ads for medicines

Online illegal and fake ads for medicines will be the next major target for the authorities as they seek to establish a long-term mechanism to curb such ads in the wake of a three-month crackdown.

Authorities have started to draft regulations on Internet advertising to control such ads, Zhang Guohua, head of the advertisement supervision department under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The Internet is expected to overtake television as the top medium for advertising by the end of the year, Zhang said, adding that supervision of websites has proved an arduous task for authorities.