The number of people using the internet to buy medicine has increased over the years. Of course it is convenient, but are you aware of the possible hazards?
Possible Risks of Buying Medicines from Unregistered Pharmacies
- The medicines could be contaminated and could lead to serious side effects.
- The medicine could contain a wrong active ingredient which is not approved by authorizing organizations like the FDA.
- The medication could be too old and may even be well past its “sell by” date. This would reduce the effectiveness of the medicine.
- Products may be manufactured under non-standard conditions and could contain wrong amounts of the active ingredients.
- In case the product fails to be effective or causes harm, patients will have no legal recourse against the pharmacy if it is located outside the U.S. or UK.
How to Protect Yourself—Six Points to Look Out For
Look for the following on the pharmacy Web site before making the buy:
1. Registrations and Licenses: All legitimate pharmacies are affiliated/approved by a licensing authority. So check the Web site to find the seal/logo of approval.
For UK residents: Check to see if the Web site is affiliated to Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). Any Web site participating with the RPSGB will have a distinct logo representing the same on its frontpage/homepage. For instance, check this online pharmacy and you will be able to find a green square logo on the left panel. Clicking the logo will take you to a page that contains a link to the RPSGB page that has details about the pharmacist running the Web site and information about location of the pharmacy.
For US residents: Check to see if the pharmacy is licensed by the state board of pharmacy. You can check nabp.info to get a list of state boards of pharmacy. In addition, check the front page of the Web site to see if the site has a VIPPS seal. VIPPS stands for Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites and Web sites having this seal are 100 percent legitimate. After finding the seal, click on the seal to check if the license is valid. The link should take you to the vipps.nabp.net Web site, where you should be able to find a verification link
