Globalization of counterfeit drugs through internet pharmacies
Globalization of counterfeit drugs through internet pharmacies and the risk of purchasing drugs from illegal online pharmacies
Industry experts have considered there are between 30,000 and 40,000 active illegal online pharmacies are operational at any given time. A Google search exercise suggests that there are more 35 millions of Internet drug store web sites. The review by NABP in December 2016 found that 11,486 internet drug outlets selling prescription medications and 10,990 (95.7%) of them were operating out of compliance with state and federal laws and/or NABP patient safety and pharmacy practice standards.
Another study healthcare workers and lay persons in study in Poland found that about 40% of the lay persons had heard about the possibility of importing illegal medicine and majority of medical workers does not know the procedure for reporting suspicious medicine and do not warn their patients against purchasing medicine from unknown sources.
