How Do You Get Meta's Authorization to Advertise Prescription Drugs?

What this means for you

• Ads that promote telehealth services generally, or educate people about prescription drugs, need no authorization from Meta. Run those while certification is in progress.
• Ads that name, price or sell a prescription drug need active LegitScript certification and Meta's authorization. For telehealth providers and online pharmacies, Meta accepts no other certifier.
• The Meta request takes minutes once LegitScript has certified your URL, and Meta says you hear back right away. The LegitScript step is the slow one, and LegitScript publishes no timeline.
• Authorized ads may only target people 18 and over, in the United States, Canada or New Zealand, and only in countries where you hold certification. Each ad needs a consult-a-professional disclaimer.
• Authorization lasts only while your LegitScript certification stays active.

MedScale Health, a paid acquisition agency for telehealth brands and clinics, files Meta's prescription drug authorization for telehealth brands as part of its LegitScript certification help. This page walks through each step in the order Meta and LegitScript describe it, and says plainly where neither publishes a number. This page is marketing guidance, not legal or medical advice. Platform and certification rules change, so check the sources listed at the end before acting on a specific rule.

First, check whether you need authorization at all

Meta's Drugs and Pharmaceuticals policy lets qualified advertisers promote prescription drugs. The same policy lists two kinds of ads that need no written authorization: ads that educate, advocate or give public service announcements about prescription drugs, and ads that promote telehealth services generally. An ad for a weight care program with a licensed provider is a telehealth services ad. An ad that names a drug, shows the product or prices a dose is a prescription drug ad.

Meta's Business Help Center limits authorization to three business types: online pharmacies, telehealth providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. It defines a telehealth provider as an entity that promotes or facilitates access to online health services, such as prescribing for consumers over digital channels. Manufacturers may use Meta's own internal review instead of LegitScript. Online pharmacies and telehealth providers may not. Meta requires them to be actively certified with LegitScript before they apply.

Step 1: LegitScript Healthcare Certification

LegitScript describes five steps: check eligibility, gather documents, submit in its client portal, expert review, and certification. Its live pricing is $975 per website to apply, nonrefundable, plus a $2,150 annual fee per website that is due only once the application is approved. Paying $2,500 more per application starts the review within two business days of submission, though LegitScript says expedited processing does not shorten the review itself.

LegitScript says it cannot give an estimated certification timeline, because review time depends on complexity, how complete the submission is, how fast you answer its questions and how many applications it has. Meta says the same thing in its own words: LegitScript operates independently, and Meta cannot provide information or support on LegitScript applications.

Certify the domain your ads will land on. Meta asks for the URL LegitScript certified. LegitScript certifies the root domain, which covers its subdomains, so a landing page on a different root domain needs its own certification and its own fees.

Step 2: Request authorization in Meta Business Suite

Meta's Business Help Center sets out the request for telehealth providers and online pharmacies:

• Open the Authorizations and verifications tab in Meta Business Suite. Next to Prescription drugs ads, click View details, then Request authorization, then Get started.
• Choose the country where you will run ads. You must hold LegitScript certification for that country.
• Choose your business type: Telehealth Provider or Online Pharmacy.
• Choose Verify using LegitScript and enter the certified URL. If the URL is not certified or not in good standing with LegitScript, the form will not let you continue.
• Enter the business name, select the ad accounts to authorize, review and submit.

Meta says you are notified of the application status right away, and approved advertisers can then run ads about prescription drugs. That is the only published review time in the process. For manufacturers using Meta's internal review instead, Meta says a decision usually comes within 48 business hours, sometimes longer.

Step 3: Extend it to other ad accounts

Authorization covers the ad accounts you select. To add another ad account in the same business portfolio, use the same tab, choose to apply an existing authorization to an additional ad account, and pick the account. Meta says the new account shows a verification successful status right away. You need at least one approved submission first. Keep prescription drug campaigns inside the authorized accounts of the business that holds the certification, and never move them to another account, Page or business to get around a restriction.

Step 4: The targeting limits after approval

• Countries: only the United States, Canada or New Zealand, and only those where you hold certification.
• Age: only people 18 or older.
• Disclaimer: every ad that promotes a prescription drug must tell people to consult a licensed health professional or obtain a valid prescription.
• Every other policy still applies. Meta's Health and Wellness policy requires 18+ targeting for health products, and its personal attributes policy still bars copy that implies the viewer has a condition.

Meta's help page lists what authorized advertisers may do: list the price of the drug, offer delivery, use sales calls to action, say the drug is in stock, and share information on efficacy, access and affordability. Each ad is still reviewed on its own merits.

What Meta does not publish

Meta publishes no list of pre-approved ad copy, no review time for individual ads after authorization, and no promise that authorization prevents disapprovals. LegitScript's FAQ says the same about its own role: certification may be required for certain advertising programs but does not guarantee advertising approval, and ad decisions belong to the platform. Plan the launch so the first prescription drug campaigns start small, while the general telehealth campaigns keep running.

Keeping the authorization

Meta says you must keep an active LegitScript certification to keep the authorization, and that it may revoke authorization if it finds the certification is no longer active. LegitScript certification renews every year, and LegitScript says a lapsed certification needs a new application and new fees. Put the renewal date on the calendar the day the certificate arrives.

The pixel needs the same care as the ads. Meta's Business Help Center lists prescription medications and medical conditions as prohibited information that must not reach Meta through event names, URL parameters or custom data. MedScale tracks server-side under a BAA with neutral event names, and no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs go to any ad platform.

What MedScale does

MedScale Health handles the whole path for telehealth brands: a readiness check against LegitScript's standards, the application and every analyst question, then the Meta authorization request and Google's healthcare certification on the certified domain. General telehealth campaigns keep running while that happens. Certification and approval are never guaranteed. Price the LegitScript side with the calculator at medscale.health/tools/legitscript-cost-calculator, then book the free growth audit at medscale.health/audit for a written plan.