Under Swiss law, advertising for certain pharmaceuticals needs to be pre-approved by Swissmedic, the Swiss pharamaceutical regulatory agency. Dr. Wild & Co AG sought approval for print advertising for its (prescription free, paracetamol-based) analgesic Contra-Schmerz ("Against Pain"), featuring a smiling tablet (see left).

Swissmedic did not like the tablet. It argued that it trivialized ("verharmlosen") the drug and was not an adequate representation of a pharmaceutical. It declined approval of the print ad - although earlier, (approved) TV ads had been aired with the same smiling tablet. Wild appealed to the Federal Administrative Court.

The Administrative Court refuted Swissmedic's arguments. Did I say refuted? Oh boy, it ripped Swissmedic apart. It called Swissmedic's decision variously "incomprehensible, contradictory, inappropriate, and arbitrary" ("nicht nachvollziehbar, widersprüchlich, unverhältnismässig und mit dem Willkürverbot nicht zu vereinbaren"). That's about as clear as a polite Swiss judge will ever get. Wild AG lost the appeal on other grounds (the size of the text indicating that the patient should read the packaging leaflet was too small), so formally, Swissmedic won.

The decision will nonetheless be greeted warmly by the Swiss pharmaceutical industry. The Federal Administrative Court's oversight of Swissmedic has been widely perceived as lacking teeth, so it's good to see that the Court will not accept just anything coming from Swissmedic.

Full text (PDF, German) here.