Availability and quality of illegitimate somatropin products obtained from the Internet

Abstract

Background Growth hormones are widely available on the Internet for those who want to enhance their physical performance and improve body satisfaction. Illegitimate websites market somatropin injections without medical prescription and encourage misuse. Customers potentially put their health at risk when purchasing parenteral medications online. Objective The objective of our study was to evaluate the online market of no-prescription somatropin products and to analyse and document Internet pharmacy characteristics, distribution and pharmaceutical quality. Setting Websites indexed in Google promoting somatropin for sale direct to patients. Method Websites promoting the sale of growth hormone products were identified and analysed from June to August 2014. Internet vendor sites were evaluated to identify possible patient and medication safety concerns. Website characteristics, delivery time, storage conditions, packaging and attached product information were assessed. Investigation of the somatropin content was achieved using capillary electrophoresis with UV detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Main outcome measure Accessibility and quality of somatropin injections. Results Seventeen individual Internet vendor websites distributed somatropin products directly to patients, majority (94%) did not require a valid medical prescription before dispensing the products. Majority (70%) of Internet pharmacies displayed no medical information and none (0%) of the vendors displayed any regulatory body logo. All online samples had significantly (p < 0.001) lower somatropin concentration than labelled. Conclusion Our results clearly illustrate that prescription only biologic drugs are widely available online and can be easily accessed by anyone. Unprofessional distribution and handling is likely to cause degradation and possible patient safety concerns.

Consumers Turning to the Internet Pharmacy Market: Cross-Sectional Study on the Frequency and Attitudes of Hungarian Patients Purchasing Medications Online

“…These initiatives can prevent threats to patient safety. Targeted interventions by pharmacists (medication review or reconciliation, professional advice regarding the evaluation of online distributors, and differentiate legal and illegal medication suppliers) are potential prevention strategies which must be emphasized, including the effective implementation in everyday practice [54]. …”

A novel application of mark-recapture to examine behaviour associated with the online trade in elephant ivory

“…Its use in estimating the size of cryptic, including criminal, populations has been recognised in a number of sociological contexts; illicit drug use or supply (Bouchard, 2007; Vaissade & Legleye, 2009), the illegal drug and arms trades (Bloor, 2005) and estimation of victim numbers from terrorism (Murphy, 2009). As far as we are aware MRC has, however, never been used to investigate illegal online trades, although others (e.g., Lavorgna, 2015; Vida et al, 2016) have attempted to provide an understanding of the dynamics. In this paper we apply MRC to a novel situation to explore behaviours associated with the illegal, online trade in elephant ivory conducted via eBay UK.…”

Consumers Turning to the Internet Pharmacy Market: Cross-Sectional Study on the Frequency and Attitudes of Hungarian Patients Purchasing Medications Online (Preprint)

“…Accordingly, actual patient safety risk in outpatient can be identified (a) within the healthcare system by collecting data obtained during medical anamnesis or by the evaluation of patient records; or (b) online by novel data-science methods. Authors aim to integrate these pharmacovigilance and infoveillance techniques into their complex methodology called Risk Based Safety Mapping of Online Pharmaceutical Market [27].…”

“…Mapping of Online Pharmaceutical Market has been developed earlier by our research group and published in 2017 [27] to evaluate patient safety threats. The aim of our current study is to evaluate actual patient safety risk in outpatient setting and integrate this data into our methodology.…”

“…and holding back information regarding adverse-effects, contraindications and drug interactions [21]. Pricing strategies include extra price for prescription only medicines without prescription, decreased unit cost with larger quantities ordered, promotion of unknown cheaper generics/brands from developing countries [25] [26] [27].…”