Why is it dangerous to buy medicines on the internet?

When buying through an online pharmacy or medicine e-tailer, it is difficult to establish the authenticity of the website or its products. The internet knows no borders or boundaries. A counterfeiter in China can register a domain name in Chile, host it in Columbia, and bank in Grand Cayman, using a Canadian address and phone number (likely to be fictitious), designed to access the lucrative American market.

The sophistication, functionality and look of these websites can often be better than the genuine medication sites. In fact, although illicit purchase of medicines via the internet EU-wide is estimated at 10.5 billion Euros per annum, only four countries allow the operation of legal online pharmacies (Holland, Germany, Italy and the UK). These pharmacies will not sell you a prescription medicine unless you can prove that you have a prescription which will be verified by a qualified pharmacist.

For a fake online pharmacy, usually there will not be a live contact number or a pharmacist. Of the 30 online pharmacies that the EAASM bought products from not one asked for a prescription.

Case study: “Annie” and her attempt at suicide

In early 2007 “Annie” was looking forward to ‘normal’ life. With her schizophrenia well controlled she was allowed to study at university. But then Annie began to notice subtle changes in her behaviour and that her new medication seemed not be giving the same control as before. Annie had always kept a diary to help manage her condition. Her entries gradually became more and more disturbing until, finally, she drove to a secluded spot and attempted to take her life. Annie was subsequently sectioned under the Mental Health Act and spent the next six months institutionalised. She is now back to managing her condition well.

In May 2007, counterfeit versions of three major medicines – for prostate cancer, heart attack and stroke, and schizophrenia – entered the UK distribution system. The fake medicine for schizophrenia was tested by the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the genuine product and was found to have only 60% of the active ingredient. It is impossible to establish if this was the cause of Annie’s attempt to take her life but we do know that 30,000 of this sub-standard medicine remain unaccounted for and could well have been taken by patients who needed their condition to be controlled at all times - and who could reasonably have trusted that the supply chain could not be breached by such criminality.