FDA: Online drug sales hinder drive vs counterfeit meds

The booming industry of online sales,  particularly of medicines, is making it difficult for the government to combat the prevalence of counterfeit drugs, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges for us, the online sale of pharmaceuticals,” said FDA officer in charge  director general Enrique Domingo, adding that selling drugs online is illegal in the country.

Counterfeit drugs or medicines may have the correct ingredients but not in the correct amount or formulation.  They may also be composed of wrong ingredients, lack active ingredients or has low-quality ingredients.

As such, they may have reduced safety, efficacy, quality, strength or purity, the FDA said.

Interviewed at the sidelines of the Anti-Counterfeit Medicine Summit in Pasay City on Wednesday, Domingo said the World Health Organization named the Philippines as one of the countries prone to have drugs that are likely to be fake, substandard or counterfeit.

The official said it was difficult to check the authenticity of medicines as well as personal care products being sold online by unlicensed sellers who are “ordinary individuals” with “no licenses to operate or sell pharmaceutical products.”

The FDA earlier issued a cease and desist order to online shopping companies Shopee Philippines and Lazada Philippines for selling drug products with no appropriate licenses to operate from the agency.