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Websites for Buying Prescription Drugs Online ============================================= Top Web Drug Stores Include 24/7 Pharmacy and No Prescription Needed --------------------------------------------------------------------
Share Article Jan 25, 2010 Daniel Workman
Popular discount drug websites that do not require prescriptions challenge Walgreens, Drugstore.com and CVS Pharmacy for online pharmacy sales. Internet sales of medical drugs are projected to exceed US$75 billion this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledges that there are many legitimate pharmaceutical websites that sell medicines to consumers online. The FDA is more concerned about a growing number of online stores that offer counterfeit medications and other potentially dangerous drugs that have not been checked for safety or effectiveness. The FDA provides the following checklists to for buying prescription drugs online.
Characteristics of a Legitimate Online Pharmacy According to the FDA, trustworthy prescription drug web stores:
Are licensed by the American state board of pharmacy where the website operates Have a licensed pharmacist available to answer consumer questions
Requires a prescription from a qualified health professional before prescription drugs are sold Provides website contact information (including the phone number of a representative to discuss any concerns or questions)
Charge prices that are reasonable but not severely lower than going market prices Has safeguards in place to protect consumer personal information.
Selling drugs without a legally required prescription is against the law, regardless if the transaction is done over the Internet or at the counter of a local pharmacy. In addition, a valid online pharmacy would only prescribe a drug for the first time after requiring applicants to submit to a doctor’s medical examination or, at minimum, answer an online medical questionnaire. Signs of Counterfeit or Other Potentially Dangerous Drugs
The FDA warns that some drugs sold via illegitimate web stores can be: Too old, strong or weak
Incorrectly labeled, stored or shipped Made with incorrect active ingredients or amounts which can lead to serious side effects
Not safe to use with other medicines or products. Top Approved Websites that Sell Prescription Drugs Online
The following websites are among those that the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) recommends. Recognized by the FDA, the NABP has verified that each online drug store has a valid pharmacy license and meets state quality standards. 1. Walgreens … 9.2 million monthly visitors (up 32.9% over the past 3 months)
2. Drugstore.com … 5.5 million monthly visitors (up 28.4%) 3. CVS Pharmacy … 4.9 million monthly visitors (up 32.6%)
4. Medco … 506,041 monthly visitors (up 18%) 5. Caremark Prescription Services … 500,981 monthly visitors (up 31%)
6. Liberty Medical … 166,696 monthly visitors (up 19%) 7. Health Partners … 115,929 monthly visitors (up 35%)
8. Prescription Solutions … 49,047 monthly visitors (up 2%) 9. Arrow Pharmacy and Nutrition Center … 35,423 monthly visitors (up 71%)
10. Drug Source, Inc … 14,169 monthly visitors (up 270%). The Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy websites have online store locators that enable consumers to instantly find local pharmacies by zip code.
Drugstore.com is licensed to dispense drugs in all 50 American states, and requires legal prescriptions from U.S. licensed doctors. The online drug store employs only licensed pharmacists, and maintains high quality and safety standards. Other Popular Websites for Buying Prescription Drugs Online
The NABP has not yet accredited the following websites for the practice of pharmacy and dispensing of medicine over the Internet. Yet the number of monthly visitors to several of these online drug stores is increasing at a higher rate than at many of the NABP-approved websites.
1. Drug Buyers … 196,188 monthly visitors (up 89% over the past 3 months) 2. Find Rx Online … 193,216 monthly visitors (no change)
3. Med Store … 183,046 monthly visitors (up 2%) 4. Planet Drugs Direct … 106,269 monthly visitors (up 28%)
5. medrx-one … 102,018 monthly visitors (up 5%) 6. TabMD … 51,009 monthly visitors (up 78%)
7. No Prescription Needed … 49,047 monthly visitors (up 102%) 8. 24/7 Pharmacy … 49,000 monthly visitors (up 2,230%)
9. eDrugStore.MD … 47,231 monthly visitors (up 97%) 10. International Drug Mart … 45,544 monthly visitors (up 57%).
Many of the above drug web stores do not require a written prescription. These include Find Rx Online, medrx-one, TabMD, 24/7 Pharmacy, and the boldly named No Prescription Needed website. Other online drug stores like Med Store focus on savings of up to 80% with generics and up to 40% with brand name drugs. International Drug Mart promises savings of up to 90% on medication from its foreign pharmacy.
Drug Buyers is a site that lists what it says are valid online medication suppliers in different countries. On its home page, eDrugStore.MD features a claim that its pharmacists and physicians are US-licensed, and that its online pharmacy store dispenses FDA-approved prescription medications only.
Highest Percentage Search Engine Traffic One reason that the unapproved drug web stores are growing faster than the NABP-approved websites is that a higher percentage of search engine queries are finding the non-approved sites.
For example, the following percentage of monthly visitors originated from search engine traffic: 64.9% for Find Rx Online
43.6% for TabMD 37.4% for No Prescription Needed
33.4% for International Drug Mart, and 32.2% for medrx-one.
This contrasts with 27% for Drugstore.com, the highest search engine traffic percentage among all NABP-approved Internet drug stores. Sources: This article provides independent calculations and insights based on data from the leading Internet traffic monitoring site Alexa, the FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration website and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) website
Share Article The copyright of the article Websites for Buying Prescription Drugs Online in Consumer Education is owned by Daniel Workman. Permission to republish Websites for Buying Prescription Drugs Online in print or online must be granted by the author in writing. Online Prescription Drug Sales Via Internet, Don Hankins (Flickr) Online Prescription Drug Sales Via Internet
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