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Pharmaceutical association urges DCGI to stop online pharmacies

Discount war is driving the online sale of medicines which is dangerous

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Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) has raised deep concerns over the unregulated online sale of medicines saying that its continuation will be highly detrimental. In a fresh appeal to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) despatched on August 14, the IPA general secretary Suresh Khanna said the online sale of medicines has become like any other FMCG with online pharmacy offering discounts through advertisements.

The main concerns include the absence of dedicated laws yet to regulate online sale of medicines as the Centre has yet to issue final rules in this regard, a lot of chances of misuse of medicines as the authenticity of a prescription cannot be checked as there are several cases of self-medication without prescription.

Further, the sale of sleeping and MTP (abortion) pills are sold online and with the possibility of its misuse or abuse. Storage, handling and transportation are other concerns as fixing responsibility will be difficult. Discount war is driving the online sale of medicines which is dangerous.

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According to Frost & Sullivan in its recent report on online pharmacies, the market size of online pharmacies in India is estimated to be around $512 million (Rs 3,500 crore) in 2018

IPA has warned that it will seriously jeopardise a highly regulated dispensing of life-saving medicines through pharmacists and the moral and ethics of the pharmacy profession. It has urged DCGI to immediately stop online pharmacies in interest of public health. "IPA has previously on several occasions has highlighted the dangers of online medicine sales such as the risk of quality, misuse and also the missing aspect of the pharmacist-patient interaction,'' Khanna said. He further informed that despite courts had pronounced orders in the past, the sale goes unabated as if this aspect does not fall under the gamut of the drug regulatory control.

IPA vice president Manjiri Gharat said many developed countries do not permit the sale of prescription medicines over the internet, while some do not even permit the online sale of over the counter medicines. "These countries do not allow discount war and they have put in place ways to check the authenticity of prescriptions and largely use online prescriptions which are from physician to pharmacist through online,'' she added.

However, Netmeds.com founder and CEO Pradeep Dadha said,'' The courts have given us permission to sell online, the Bombay HC has dismissed the PIL. As a fully licensed pharmacy, Netmeds is committed to adhering to all the guidelines and rules defined by the Drugs & Cosmetics Act.'' IPA's move comes a week after the Centre told the HC that the final rules on online medicines will be issued by December.

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