Prescription drugs sold online without robust checks

Patients' lives are being put at risk because it is too easy to buy prescription-only medicines from online pharmacies, a leading pharmacist says.

A BBC investigation found 20 online pharmacies selling restricted drugs without checks - such as GP approval. In total, over 1,600 various prescription-only pills were bought during the investigation entering false information without challenge.

Regulator the General Pharmaceutical Council says extra checks are needed when selling some drugs online.

The BBC's findings highlight the "wild west" of buying medicines on the web, says Thorrun Govind, a pharmacist, health lawyer and former chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

"The current guidance basically tells pharmacies to be robust, but do that in your own way, and we know that under this current system, patients have died," she says.

The parents of a woman who died in 2020, after accidentally overdosing on medicines she bought online, are among those calling for stricter rules.

Katie Corrigan, from St Erth in Cornwall, had developed an addiction to painkillers after experiencing neck pain.

"Katie needed help, she didn't need more medication," says her mum, Christine Taylor.

Her GP had stopped supplying the drug after realising she had been allowed to request new prescriptions prematurely and been prescribed too much.

Instead, Katie, 38, was able to buy a painkiller and a drug used to treat anxiety from multiple online pharmacies without notifying her GP.

The coroner at Katie's inquest confirmed her GP had not been contacted by any of the pharmacies to check the drug was safe for her. In his final report, he said the safety controls were inadequate.

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Source: BBC News, 5 January 2024