Patient safety
Logo shows ‘approved’ drug sites
Patients buying medicines over the Internet will soon be able to
check the authenticity of medicines sold on the site, thanks to a new
Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) pilot scheme, launched last month
(November).
The scheme, which involves the creation of a new logo that guarantees
the authenticity of a site, comes days after leading cancer doctors
warned patients are increasingly turning to the web because of drugs
they need being unavailable on the NHS — and three months after medical
journal The Lancet reported the case of a women who damaged her
vision with oral steroids bought online from Thailand. The 64-year-old
woman had taken the drug for four years after making an incorrect
self-diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome.
The RPS scheme cannot outlaw disreputable sites, or the unwanted
emails offering cut-price deals on medicines such as the anti-impotence
drug Viagra.
Instead, it aims to help those people who want to be able to obtain
reputable products, but who do not want to get them via a family doctor,
perhaps because they are embarrassed about their condition.
As well as checking individual sites for logos, consumers will be
able to go to the RPS’s site to check online pharmacists’ registration
details.
"One of the main con-cerns around the supply of medicines via the
Internet is that members of the public are often unsure how to
distinguish between sites which are operated by a registered pharmacy
and sites which operate illegally", says RPS Head of Professional
Ethics, Lynsey Balmer.
"Patients may believe they are purchasing medicines from a registered
healthcare professional, when in fact the supplier has no professional
qualifications or healthcare expertise. Our policy is that the public
benefit from the opportunity for advice from a pharmacist when they have
a medicine supplied."
If the scheme is suc-cessful, it will be rolled out to all registered
Internet pharmacies. It will only apply to sites registered in the UK
and will have no jurisdiction over those based abroad.
Source: bjhc&im December 2006
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