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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 The report, titled Internet Pharmacies: Some Pose Safety Risks for Consumers, was undertaken by the GAO at the request of the permanent subcommittee on investigations of the U.S. Senate's Committee on Governmental Affairs.
The impetus for the request, of course, was the surge in Internet drug sales, itself a result of spiraling prescription drug costs in the United States.
The GAO researchers placed a total of 90 drug orders, each with a different Web pharmacy, and received 68 samples of 13 different drugs. The pharmacies were located in the United States, Canada, and several other countries, including Mexico, Pakistan and Spain.
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GAO staff checked labeling, shipping, and other information, then forwarded the samples on to the manufacturers to check for authenticity.
The list of drugs included narcotics (such as OxyContin and Percocet), some with special safety restrictions (for example, Accutane), and some with special handling requirements (such as Humulin).
In general, the probe found, top-selling drugs such as Celebrex, Lipitor, Viagra, and Zoloft were easily obtained from multiple pharmacies.
Those with safety restrictions, like Accutane or Percocet, were more difficult to obtain. In fact, one order placed for Accutane, an acne medication that can cause birth defects if taken by women who are pregnant, was declined by one pharmacy.
One U.S. and one Canadian pharmacy refused to fill a prescription for Clozaril, an antipsychotic. Few pharmacies would sell narcotics without a prescription.
None of the non-Canadian foreign pharmacies included labels with instructions, and only about one-third had warning information. Four Canadian samples did not have appropriate warning information.
Some pharmacies had questionable return addresses that looked like private homes.
Some foreign pharmacies outside of Canada seemed to be offering U.S. brand-name products only to attempt to substitute an alternative drug sometime during the ordering process.
And while some products were "chemically comparable," the FDA "has concerns about whether that translates into therapeutically equivalent," Crosse said.
More information
Find the report at the U.S. General Accounting Office (www.gao.gov ). Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3
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