Buying Medicines Online: Safe or Risky?
FDA warns of pitfalls, but others disagree

(HealthDay News) -- Many Americans continue to use the Internet to buy medications from other countries, a practice the government has deemed dangerous and not necessarily cost-saving.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drugs purchased from foreign countries might be unregulated and could pose a health risk. And, despite the widespread belief that imported drugs are less expensive than those available in the United States , many generic equivalents in the U.S. cost less than medicines bought from other nations, the FDA says.

However, one expert said the agency has used "fear tactics" to discourage online purchases of medicines, and another said the U.S. government should halt its attempts to block Internet drug sales and instead develop a system to ensure their safety.

The FDA found that 88 percent of the 2,069 packages of imported medications it examined between September 2006 and August 2007 appeared to be prescription drugs also available in the United States . The remaining 12 percent were dietary supplements, foreign products with labeling that was illegible or incomprehensible and medications not sold in the United States

In addition, 53 percent of the drugs that were examined have FDA-approved generic equivalents, the agency reported. And, it said, almost half of those generic versions can be bought for $4 at several national chain pharmacies -- a price that's lower than the shipping costs for the same drugs bought online from foreign suppliers.

"The data lead us to believe that many people are buying drugs online not to save money but to bypass the need for a prescription from their doctor, since these Web sites typically do not require the purchaser to have a prescription," Randall Lutter, the FDA's deputy commissioner for policy and planning, said in a written statement.

"In essence, they seem to be getting and using prescription drugs without a prescription, an intrinsically risky practice," Lutter said.

Rather than trying to discourage the importation of drugs, the federal government should develop a system that guarantees their safety, said Sharon Treat, executive director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, a group created by state legislators to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible to Americans.

"If the Congress would pass, and the president wouldn't veto, legislation to authorize the importation in a system that involves safety checks, we would be in much better shape than we are today, because consumers would have less expensive drugs, and there would be a system to make sure that the drugs that they are purchasing are safe," Treat told HealthDay .

She noted that many Americans don't have prescription drug coverage as part of their health insurance and "are going to do whatever they can to find medicines they can afford."

Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group of Public Citizen, said that the FDA might have legitimate concerns about the purchase of drugs online, but he said that buying drugs with a prescription from pharmacies in Canada is usually safe.

"Most people who are taking buses from Vermont and New Hampshire to Canadian cities or buying online are doing it to save money, and they know the drugs they are going to get are identical to the ones they get in the United States, except it costs less," Wolfe told HealthDay .

On the Web

To learn more about programs that help people obtain medicines free or at a reduced cost, visit the Web site of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Sharon Treat, executive director, National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, Hallowell, Me.; Sidney Wolfe, M.D., director, Health Research Group, Public Citizen, Washington, D.C.; Nov. 1, 2007, news release, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Author: Robert Preidt
Publication Date: Oct. 31, 2008
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