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FDA launches online pharmacy awareness campaign, helps ID licensed websites

Posted in Drug & Medical Devices on October 2, 2012

For millions of Americans, a large percentage of their monthly budgets must go toward prescription medications. Millions of dollars are spent on prescription drugs each year in our country. Ninety percent of senior citizens and 57 percent of non-senior citizens rely on at least one prescription drug on a daily basis.

Combine these numbers with an estimated 48.6 million Americans who do not have medical insurance and you can see why many Americans face the choice of buying food or buying medication.

These circumstances have forced many to look for alternatives, including online pharmacies. If you do an online search for “online pharmacy” you will find a seemingly endless list of websites offering to sell you all manner of prescription drugs.

But when it comes to buying medicine online, it is important to be very careful. Some Web sites sell medicine that may not be safe to use and could put your health at risk.

Some medicines sold online:

  • are fake (counterfeit or “copycat” medicines)
  • are too strong or too weak
  • have dangerous ingredients
  • have expired (are out-of-date)
  • aren’t FDA-approved (haven’t been checked for safety and effectiveness)
  • aren’t made using safe standards
  • aren’t safe to use with other medicine or products you use
  • aren’t labeled, stored, or shipped correctly

To help battle this growing issue, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched a national campaign to educate consumers about the dangers of buying medicine from fake online pharmacies and help people safely buy medicine online. “FDA BeSafeRx – Know Your Online Pharmacy” seeks to educate consumers and health care professionals about the health risks of buying prescription medicine through fake online pharmacies and to help current and potential online pharmacy consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

The FDA did a survey recently and found that one in four Americans had bought prescription drugs online. Nearly 30 percent said they were not confident about safely buying prescription drugs on the Internet.

This FDA campaign comes on the heels of an investigation by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The NABP looked into 10,000 websites and discovered that a staggering 97 percent were not in compliance with U.S. pharmacy laws.

If you follow this link, you can click on your state so you can always make sure that the online pharmacy you are researching is:

  • Licensed in the United States
  •  Requires a doctor’s prescription
  • Provides a physical address and telephone number in the United States
  • Offers a licensed pharmacist to answer your questions.

The FDA offers some valuable tips for anyone considering buying their prescription drugs online.

Beware of online pharmacies that:

  • Allow you to buy drugs without a prescription from your doctor
  • Offer deep discounts or cheap prices that seem too good to be true
  • Send spam or unsolicited email offering cheap drugs
  • Are located outside of the United States
  • Are not licensed in the United States

The personal injury lawyers of Elk & Elk want you to be informed of the dangers in buying prescription medications online so you can protect yourself and your loved ones. To find out more about Elk & Elk, visit our website.