Purchasing prescription medications from the Internet can be enticing because of the convenience and lower prices.  Before making any purchases it is important to do your own investigating and look for websites where the State Board of Pharmacy licenses the pharmacy. Also make sure that it has a licensed pharmacist on staff, requires a prescription from a doctor who is licensed in the Unites States to write prescriptions and has a way for you to talk to a person in the event of a problem. 

There is a list of state boards of pharmacy on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) website.  The NABP has a program to help you locate pharmacies that are licensed to sell medications online.  Websites that have been checked and approved by the NABP to meet state and federal rules display the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice sites (VIPPS) Seal.  This seal guarantees that all of the licensing standards in the states that medications are dispensed in have been met, all prescription orders are secure, quality assurance policies are in place and there is a system by which a customer’s questions can be answered by a pharmacist.

Online pharmacies are actually a relatively new online market but are growing quickly due to the large amounts of money being put into them by larger pharmacy chains.  Currently in the United States, there are 400 websites that dispense and prescribe medications.  With so many online pharmacies cropping up it is no wonder that consumers are confused and insecure about which pharmacies to use and how to tell if certain pharmacies are illegal or even fake.  The best way to decide for you which pharmacy to use is to of course use only online pharmacies that carry the VIPPS seal. 

Some signs that your online pharmacy might be a fake include:

The pharmacy does not require a prescription from your doctor or any doctor in order to receive a prescription.

The website does not have a pharmacist available via phone or e-mail to answer questions of the consumer.

Your personal information is not protected, secured or authenticated.

There are no privacy and security policies posted anywhere on the website.

The pharmacy provides its own “doctor” who conducts an online exam and makes a diagnosis and determination of needed medications without seeing the patient in person.

Many online pharmacies provide discounts and low prices but it is important to be away of unusually low prices because this can be a sign that your pharmacy is not a legal entity.

There are currently several major pharmacy chains that have opened online access to their pharmacies.  If the online pharmacy has a name that is misspelled, does not sound like a pharmacy name, lists a particular drug(s) in the name, is in all lower case lettering or is not a name that you have heard of you must check out the authenticity of the pharmacy before using it.

If you are not familiar with the pharmacy always check the general appearance of the website to see if it looks unprofessional, lacks a physical address and has a listed and working phone number.

Do not trust “certificates of authenticity”.  Many of these certificates can be fakes so look only for the VIPPS seal of approval on the pharmacy website.

Do a search of the pharmacy name on the Internet and look for posts or discussion groups about the online entity.  If there are a lot of customer complaints or likewise if you find no information at all these can both be signs that you need to check into your online pharmacy better before using it.

Pharmacies that are located in other countries may be breaking the law by shipping prescription drugs into the United States that are not approved by the FDA.  Some of these websites may say that the drugs are approved in the company they are being shipped from but they probably are not.  If you purchase drugs from these pharmacies you more than likely will never receive your product and if you do receive it you are putting your health at risk because you could be receiving counterfeit medicines, incorrect dosages, improperly stored medications, or expired, contaminated or recalled medications.

 

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