Private coronavirus test centre’s adverts banned over ‘misleading’ immunity claims

Advertisements from a private Covid-19 test centre have been banned for claiming a they could show whether a person has developed immunity.

A page on Corona Test Centre London’s website included the claim that "Antibody testing will tell you if you've had the virus and developed an immune response”.

The page was live in May this year.

A paid-for Facebook ad for the company, a test provider owned by XMedical Ltd, featured an image of several socially-distanced people wearing overalls and face masks alongside the message "We are on a mission to safely get you back to your friends and back to work”.

The advertising watchdog said it the statement would be interpreted by readers to mean the tests "were capable of indicating whether or not someone could safely return to work and to social gatherings without fear of contracting or passing on the virus".

XMedical Ltd, which owns the test provider company, removed the ad from Facebook, Instagram and Google.

However, it argued that its website was not an ad "because it was their home page and their consent page".

In response to an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it said thousands of people, including NHS professionals, visited its centre.

According to its website, the antibody and antigen tests cost £120 each, while its Fit to Fly and PCR tests go for between £165-175.

The ASA said the company's website page "marketed XMedical's antibody testing services" and was therefore considered an ad within the ASA's remit.

It ruled the ads misleading after it found no information in either which explained that a positive antibody result did not mean that a person was immune.

The ASA found that, as of July 13, Government guidance stated there was no strong evidence yet to suggest that those who had contracted the virus and to have produced antibodies were immune.

XMedical Ltd was told the ads must not appear again in their current form.

In a separate ruling, the ASA banned an ad from another private health clinic after claiming an antibody test was was “100 per cent accurate” and for imply a positive result would show people were immune.

The website for Solihull Health Check Clinic included a page which featured text stating it is offering tests with 100 per cent accurate results within 24 hours, with text underneath stating "Public Health England and Government Approved".

The ad, as seen on July 2, also claimed that its test could indicate whether a person has developed an "immune response" to coronavirus.

After complaints were made over the ad's claims to the ASA, the West Midlands-based clinic said it only used the Abbott antibody test which has been found to demonstrate 100 per cent sensitivity and 97.5 per cent specificity.

The clinic said it did not claim to be endorsed by anyone but that it highlighted the test was approved by Public Health England, who are provided the results for inclusion into official testing statistics.

While the ASA accepted that the accuracy of tests could be evaluated in terms of sensitivity and specificity, it said neither of these terms were referred to or explained in the ad.