More and more platforms are pretending to be pharmacies and offer to sell drugs online, which are only issued on prescription.
Ozempic, Quétiapine or Viagra: sites presenting themselves as pharmacies and offering the online purchase of drugs, which are subject to prescription multiply on the Internet. A prohibited but booming practice, to the chagrin of pharmacists who alert for risks. “We regularly receive reports from sites that sell products illegally. We make complaint deposits, but it is very difficult to follow, they close and reappear immediately elsewhere ”deplores Carine Wolf-Thal, president of the National Order of Pharmacists.
Since 2013, pharmacies established in France can offer online sales of drugs not subject to compulsory medical prescription. But on the Internet, a simple research from a molecule reveals dozens of sites usurping the identity of pharmacies and selling drugs subject to prescription. Some can be promoted by emails, advertisements on social networks or false health blogs.
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5000 faux sites
According to the latest report of the Cybersecurity Gen group, France would be “The most targeted country” by these false pharmacie sites, called «PharmaFraud»details Michal Salàt, director of research on the threats of Avast – company belonging to the group. In the world, researchers have identified a network of “More than 5000 false sites marketing treatments” and more than “151,000 Pharmafraud attacks have been blocked” By Avast since January in France, he adds. According to the expert, “The strong adoption of electronic commerce in the health sector” as well as “Occasional difficulties in supplying medication” make France a «terrain fertile» For this type of scam.
For its part, the cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform also indicates that it has identified since last year “A notable number of recordings of suspicious domains with the term” pharmacy “”. “It’s dramatic. There are a lot of drug fraud, it is difficult to quantify, but it is very dangerous ”Comments Pierre-Olivier Variot, President of the Union of Unions of Frame Pharmacists (USPO).
Contaminated drugs
According to the Institute for Research Anti-CONTREFULATION of drugs, 96% of online pharmacies are illegal; While the World Health Organization estimates that half of the drugs sold on the Internet would be falsified.
Because if some false sites are content to steal the personal, medical or banking data from buyers, others really deliver counterfeit or unregulated drugs. These false tablets may contain either the right ingredients but in an incorrect and particularly high dosage, or another active compound, or even no active substance. Some are even contaminated by toxic additives, including heavy metals or unknown chemicals.
And no product is spared. Treatments against erection disorders (Viagra, Cialis) have been the most popular for several years, but some antidiabetics such as Ozempic – very popular on social networks to lose weight – are also acclaimed. “People may want to avoid going to see a doctor, then a pharmacist, who could refuse them to issue if he suspects a misuse”regrets Carine Wolf-Thal.
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Patients anxious by shortages
Today, supply tensions – such as the one that has known since January several psychiatric drugs such as Quétiapine or Setraline – can also attract patients. “Some people are so anxious about not having their medication that they try to find all possible solutions, even if it means adopting behaviors that seem completely aberrant”regret Pierre-Olivier Variot.
While some players would like to simplify the online sale of without prescription drugs, the pharmacist calls the State to “Stay on a hard line”. Likewise, the national order of pharmacists wonders about “Utility” electronic commerce when the pharmacy mesh allows you to obtain “A drug quickly with the advice of a pharmacist”. The profession is still preparing to open the site in October “My pharmacy in France”. “A portal, not a marketplace”insists Pierre-Olivier Variot. “It is not a question of looking for a medication and see where to get it virtually the door of your pharmacy and make a request as if you were physically”he specifies. Nearly a thousand pharmacies already have online sales sites, according to the order of pharmacists.