Aegate News

Cost and convenience; reasons why consumers ignore dangers of buying fake drugs online

Aegate, London, 28 April, 2010: The European Parliament voted on the 26 April that sales of medicines over the internet should be included as part of the new EU legislation to prevent "falsified" medicines from entering the legal supply chain. With some surveys identifying that more than 60%[i] of drugs purchased online are fake, substandard, and illegal; the dangers are real and tangible[ii].

The new legislation will also confirm the need for mandatory safety features for all prescription medicines. Both measures will go some way to ensuring the public seek medicines from qualified health practitioners and help drive them away from unregulated internet sources. Research carried out within five major countries in Europe by patient safety company Aegate identified that around 9% of consumers have purchased prescription drugs online at least once, despite the dangers of doing so.

The research, carried out on behalf of Aegate by specialist independent pollster ICM, revealed that despite a fairly high level of awareness among consumers that there may be risks (69 per cent of consumers said that it is a bad idea or dangerous to buy medicines on line[iii]) there are genuine reasons why some consumers ignore the dangers; 46 per cent of those purchasing online said they did so because it is cheaper while 30 per cent did so because of convenience.

Compare this to a country where buying medicines on line is legal: the picture is very different. One in four consumers (26 per cent) bought on line- 18 per cent of them regularly. 57 per cent of those that bought online did so because it is cheaper. Just 37 per cent of the consumers had concerns about the risks.

Whilst discount prices may be attractive to patients in some European countries who have to pay for their own medicines, should consumers consider that option as just cheaper - or cheap and dangerous?

"Creating effective legislation for patient safety within the online environment is a specific problem", commented Gary Noon CEO Aegate. " Despite the fact that purchasing prescription medicines online is illegal in most European countries, internet pharmacy web sites can be registered anywhere in the world and accessed from most computers, making it almost impossible to stem the availability of prescription drugs online. "

Illegally operating internet pharmacies often do not require a prescription before a purchase can be made - and this, as well as the lack of face to face contact, does not support the need for consumers to obtain medicines from sources where qualified health practitioners are present to ensure that the drug is authentic; any underlying conditions are diagnosed; and the risk of drug interactions can be assessed.

Mail order pharmacies can fill the gap for those cases where patients are unable to visit the pharmacist in person. This addresses the consumer's needs for convenience. These are very distinct from on-line pharmacies, in that they must have registered pharmacy premises under the control of a registered pharmacist and require a prescription before dispensing.

How to encourage patients to use mail order and high street pharmacies, rather than buying from dubious sources online? Interestingly, the research revealed that only 4 per cent of consumers would continue to buy prescription medicines on line if their traditional pharmacists had a specialist tool to confirm the authenticity of medicines.

Within the next few months The EU Commission is fully expected to complete a directive requiring that qualified persons within the legal supply chain, including the traditional pharmacy, be given tools to verify the authenticity of medicines right across the EU - so perhaps the future for increased medicines safety in Europe is truly on the horizon.


[i] Data published by EAASM - European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines

[ii] Falsified medicines come in many forms. They may contain no active ingredient, partial active ingredient or be an "excellent" copy but produced in a non sterile environment. Worse still the medicine could be contaminated by adding chalk or other substances to give the product a smooth appearance, but there have also been instances in China for example where antifreeze was added, killing many innocent people.

[iii] These are average figures, reflecting five EU countries, where in four of these it is illegal to buy medicines online