One in five online pharmacies operates from the UK
Pharmacy2U is a UK internet pharmacy that operates within the law |
There are 570 websites selling medicines hosted in the UK, according to US research. The research does not indicate how many of them are operated by legitimate pharmacies or how many of them are illegal.
US internet research company MarkMonitor analysed 3,160 websites offering medicines for sale and found that only four were accredited under a US verification scheme — Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites — and that one in 10 stated that no prescription was needed for a sale to take place. The research also found that half of the websites did not secure their customers’ data and that most did not offer encrypted internet connection.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is currently piloting an internet pharmacy verification scheme under which legitimate online UK pharmacies will show a logo on their websites that links to the Society’s database of registered pharmacy premises so that users can see the company’s registration details. The verification scheme will be rolled out generally in 2008.
Even though this scheme is being piloted, the Society’s current advice is that the safest way to purchase medicines is through face-to-face contact with a pharmacist.
Priya Sejpal, professional ethics pharmacist at the Society, said: “Internet pharmacy is an area of rapid growth and while the Society recognises that the increased provision of internet pharmacy services undoubtedly improves patient access and choice of pharmacy services, the nature of the world wide web is such that some medicines are now readily available from online suppliers who have no professional qualifications or health care
expertise.”
She added that patients considering buying medicines via the internet should be encouraged to check that the website is operated from a registered pharmacy.
A Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency spokeswoman said that the agency had asked MarkMonitor for its evidence that 18 per cent of websites selling medicines are hosted in the UK.
She said that the MHRA’s advice to consumers was that they should not buy medicines on the internet unless they are priced in sterling, the website gives the address and telephone number of a bricks-and-mortar pharmacy, identifies its chief pharmacist and insists on a prescription for prescription
medicines.
“Our baseline is that it’s not the wisest thing to buy drugs online,” she said. “Whether they’re based in the UK or not, you just don’t know what you’re going to get in the post. It’s not nearly as effective as a face-to-face consultation with a pharmacist.”
At any one time the MHRA is 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.
The research, and the way it was presented by the lay media earlier this week, has upset legitimate online pharmacies.
Daniel Lee, managing director of Leeds-based Pharmacy2U, said: “There is little differentiation being made between overseas or UK purveyors of potentially dangerous counterfeit drugs and the perfectly legal and trustworthy supply of prescription drugs by registered and regulated UK-based pharmacies that have an online presence. There is reporting that all online pharmacy is unsafe, without regulation and that the only safe way to obtain prescription medicines is through face-to-face contact with a pharmacist, which is simply not true. Safe and credible online supplies of medicines can be achieved in the UK.
Mr Lee said that Pharmacy2U had always tried to be at the forefront of differentiating between those operating outside the law and pharmacies like itself.
“But everyone gets tarred with the same brush,” he said. “To have this sort of research published without balancing comment is scaremongering. We would welcome the shutting down of all these illegal websites.”
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