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Web pharmacies can be dangerous, study finds
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10-11-99 Pennsylvania. Internet pharmacies charge more on average for prescription drugs and physician consultations and often pose dangerous risks to consumers, according to a study released Sept. 28. The report, initially published online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, details findings from a sample of 46 Internet pharmacies. Authors Bernard S. Bloom, PhD, and Ronald C. Iannacone compared drug prices on the sites with those at traditional pharmacies in Philadelphia and found that physician visits cost $10 more and medication costs ran about 15 to 20 percent more. The researchers also found just five of the Internet pharmacies would reveal a business location or the qualifications of the consulting physicians. Many of the sites, particularly those based in other countries, took poor patient histories and had spurious prescriptive practices, said Bloom, a research professor in the geriatrics division of the department of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "The central message is a very simple one: Are you willing to pay more for rapid access and convenience, and in turn be exposed to a real risk?" Bloom said. "People should be justifiably skeptical of what they're exposed to. … There are scams out there in the health services." Last month, to help reduce that risk, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) certified three Internet pharmacies as "verified Internet pharmacy practice sites," a designation meant to step up consumer protection. About a dozen more applications are in varying stages of approval and more than 160 have been requested since the program was launched, said Carmen Catizone, PharmMS, the NABP's executive director. Catizone believes the study's gravest finding was that "the foreign-based prescribing sites are extremely accessible and extremely dangerous." The most dangerous sites can send counterfeit, out-of-date, or poorly labeled medication and can leave an injured patient with no recourse, he said.
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