Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults in a recent Food and Drug Administration survey reported buying prescription drugs online, the agency said Friday—but those purchases could carry significant risks.
The FDA is launching a new campaign, BeSafeRX, to educate consumers about the dangers of illegal online pharmacies. Bogus pharmacies sometimes sell drugs that are counterfeit or past their expiration date and/or contain dangerous ingredients, the FDA warned.
Consumers can use the California Board of Pharmacy website to look up a pharmacy and find out if it has a legitimate license.
Here are some additional tips from the FDA's campaign website:
Avoid online pharmacies that:
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Allow you to buy drugs without a prescription or by completing an online questionnaire
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Offer discounts or cheap prices that seem too good to be true
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Send unsolicited email or other spam offering cheap medicine
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Ship prescription drugs worldwide
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State that the drugs will be shipped from a foreign countryAre located outside of the United States
- Are not licensed by a state board of pharmacy in the United States (or equivalent state health authority)
Would you feel safe buying prescription drugs online? Tell us in the comments.
