Drugs Purchased Online: Process Characteristics and Drug Quality

We found 13 studies [59,64-66,73,74,82,83,94,101-104] in which the researchers bought prescription drugs online and evaluated the actual dispatch and its characteristics, and the quality of the products received (Table 2). The response rate ranged from 30% [66] or over (39%) [74] to almost 100% [65,101] or 100% [59,73,74,102], except for the research by Cicero et al [64], who received nothing after ordering opioids, whereas his only order for tramadol was successful. It should be noted that the various groups of researchers ordered and purchased different types of drugs from different samples of online pharmacies. Some were interested in specific categories of drugs [64,66,82,83,94,101,102,103], whereas others ordered several active ingredients [59,65,73,74,104]. Cicero and colleagues’ attempts to buy class II and III opioid analgesics did not result in their dispatch [64], but hormonal contraceptives and simvastatin were always delivered when ordered [83,94], despite a much lower number of total orders. The GAO [73], which received 75% of orders, showed the same result, as they found that top-selling drugs such as Celebrex, Lipitor, Viagra, and Zoloft were readily available from multiple Internet pharmacies, whereas other drugs, such as those with special safety restrictions (Accutane and Clozaril) and narcotic painkillers (Percocet, OxyContin, and Vicodin), were offered for sale by fewer Internet pharmacies or were otherwise more difficult to obtain.

Table 2

Articles on the quality of drugs purchased online, listed in alphabetical order according to the first author

Drug Purchase Characteristics

The actual purchase of drugs without having an original medical prescription was verified by all authors except for Dean et al [102], Veronin and Youan [103], Veronin et al [94], and Westenberger et al [104], who did not specify whether a prescription was used. Two studies evaluated the effectiveness of online questionnaires for assessing health status. The results highlighted the low performance of this tool, which allowed the purchase of contraindicated products by fictitious consumers in some or all orders [66,83].

Several authors found a lack of reliability in the business practices of some online pharmacies, linked to completed money transactions without actual receipt of the drugs [66,73,74,101] or having to join clubs, only to find no drugs available after having paid the necessary fee [64]. One study reported subsequent advertising by email and phone for more than 4 months after ordering [64].

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 746