Group warns vs online sale of medicine

MANILA, Philippines - The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) expressed alarm yesterday over the sale of medicine through advertisements on the Internet.

PHAP assistant vice president Eufe Tantia said the government should investigate the report because some of these health products might not have passed the tests of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), formerly the Bureau of Food and Drugs.

“The products are purportedly coming from (legitimate) pharmaceutical firms themselves but we don’t know that for sure. I think we have to look into this,” Tantia claimed during the launch of the Medicine Surveillance Project of the FDA last Tuesday.

The project provides a reporting system through which consumers could report the sale of medicine that are substandard, counterfeit and with adverse reactions and illegal practices like unlawful dispensing of drugs, as well as drugs stores operating without license or registered pharmacists.

Tantia had urged FDA to put a stop to the advertisements because the products might pose health risks to consumers. He also urged FDA to act on the proliferation of Chinese medicine not registered with the agency.

He added that many of these do not even have English translations so consumers rely only on the sales talk of sellers.

FDA director Nazarita Tacandong said that FDA lawyers would be studying the liability and how to prosecute the manufacturers and those who posted the Internet advertisements.

“The risk of buying medicine through the Internet is very high. In the first place, you would not know if the products are registered or if they are fake,” she added.

Tacandong said that she could not ascertain if cyber laws cover Internet advertising.

She, however, said that prescription drugs are prohibited from being promoted in mass media and even through the Internet.

“I think the best thing that we can do for now is to advise the public not to patronize these products for their own safety,” she added.