Provided by Cognitive Sciences ePrint Archive
Published Quarterly
Mangalore, S outh India
ISSN 0972-5997
Volume 2; Issue 2; April-June 2003
Short Review
Cyber-pharmacies and emerging concerns on marketing drugs
Online
Vinod Scaria
Center for Cybermedicine and I nternet Research, Calicut
Corresponding Address: Vinod S caria, Perumcheril, 33/4711 , Malaparamba, Calicut
673009, Kerala, India. E-Mail: vinodscaria@yahoo. co.in
Citation : S caria V. Cyber-pharmacies and emerging concerns on marketing drugs Online.
Online J Health Allied Scs. 2003; 2: 1
U R L : http: //www.ojhas.org/issue6/2003-2-1 .htm
Open Acces s Archive: http: //cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/view/subjects/OJHAS .html
Abstract
T he booming e- commer ce and a regulation-less
environment online have led to the rise of a new
generation of webs ites that market drugs and other
products over the I nternet. Some of these drugs are
often herbal products or of dubious quality, often
marketed with a mix of professional design and
unverified/fraudulent claims. Several concerns have
arisen from different corners and evidence of
malpractice has emerged. But there is a lack of
s ufficient evidence confirming the concerns .
Keywords : I nter net, Drug, Commer ce, Ethics,
Quality of Health Care,
I ntroduction:
I nternet has evolved into a self-organizing media,
capable of multiple interactions within. A large
number of consumer products including drugs are
being advertised and sold over the I nternet.[ 1 ]
T hough the marketing of drugs over the I nternet is
an inevitable outcome of the booming e-economy, it
poses unique ethical, legal and quality challenges-
the prime cause being the anarchic structure of the
I nternet. These challenges are important from the
cons umer , physician and regulator perspectives.
T his paper aims at reviewing the developments in
this domain in an attempt to create awareness on
the problem, and to attract more studies and
evidence aiding the policy makers in formulating
adequate steps to regulate these developments.
Cyber pharmacies- a plausible classification
Mills [2] classifies Cyber pharmacies into three.
T he first group delivers medicines after first
obtaining a valid prescription, while the second
group is prescribing based sites i.e., they have a
phys ician in their panel who initiates the
prescription, getting a commission of sales. The third
class is online drug s hops , which are least concer ned
with prescriptions/other issues. A variety of
prescription and non-prescription drugs can be
obtained from these sites.
Research on Cyber pharmacies
Eysenbach [3] studied cyber-pharmacies posing as a
patient in whom the drug was contraindicated and
applied for prescriptions. He found that though
maj ority of webs ites did not provide the drug, some
cyber pharmacies indeed delivered S ildenafil citrate
[Viagra] though it was clearly contraindicated
Peterson [4] surveyed 33 Cyber pharmacy websites
in the United States and found that most pharmacies
provided all of the drugs in the survey. Patients were
required to provide their own prescription at 88% of
the sites , and 75% of sites used mail or fax to verify
prescription integrity. More than 50% of sites had
pr ivacy policies posted and 64% used cookies .
Bonakdar [5] studied websites offering cancer cure
and concluded that a number of webs ites offered
cancer cure through herbal medication with little
regard for current regulations.
S caria [6] studied webs ites offering sale of Viagra
and analysed the information provided to potential
cons umers regarding contraindications and found
that though most of the webs ites provided
1