Drug website safety concerns heightened

Source: Health Care Digital

Date :20/08/2007 09:39:26

Analysis of more than 3,000 sites found medicines for sale without a prescription and some that were likely to be counterfeit or out of date.

MarkMonitor the industry fraud advisers also found half of the sites did not safeguard customer details.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is planning to roll out a logo scheme to help consumers identify genuine sites.

Charlie Abrahams, from MarkMonitor said: “The things that jumped out were very few were accredited, half of them had no security and they're selling at about a fifth of the retail price which suggests they're counterfeit.”

Of 3,160 pharmacies found to be selling one or more of the drugs, only four had a Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site accreditation.

Each of the sites had an average of 32,000 visitors daily, which could equate to £2 billion in annual sales for the six drugs looked at.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), a watchdog which oversees the quality of medicines available in the UK, can only close down British-based sites which break the law, because it has does not have jurisdiction over those based abroad.

The agency said they would advise consumers not to buy medicines on the internet.

A spokesperson for MHRA said: "At any one time the MHRA are investigating around 100 cases where they believe there have been breaches of the Medicines Act relating to the illegal sale or supply of medicines via the internet.”

All pharmacies based in Great Britain, including those providing internet services, must register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

They are planning to roll out the logo scheme at the end of 2007, which provides a direct link to the society's website where visitors can verify the registration details of both the pharmacy and pharmacist.

August 20 2007