Alliance Healthcare has become the latest partner in a heavyweight campaign highlighting the dangers of buying medicines online from unregulated sources.

Posters warning of the dangers of bypassing the healthcare system will be featured on 100 Alliance vans for a year from this month.

As part of the 'Get real. Get a prescription' campaign, the posters will encourage patients to seek advice and support from a pharmacist or GP rather than turning to unregulated online outlets.

The campaign encourages the public to visit a GP or pharmacist instead of using unregulated sources	‘Several thousand' fake medicines seized during Hartlepool arrests MHRA raids seize £140,000 of counterfeit drugs Pair jailed for selling counterfeit drugs via online pharmacy
	The campaign is backed by the medicines regulator, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), patient charities and Pfizer. Alliance Healthcare commercial director Mark Stephenson said the wholesaler was "pleased to be supporting a valuable and educational campaign" which "reminded consumers of the dangers of purchasing medicines from illegal websites".

"The [websites] may look very professional but in fact they often supply dangerous counterfeit products which can contain no active ingredient, the wrong ingredient or even toxic substances, posing a real risk to public health," he said.

The news follows warnings earlier this month that illegal internet pharmacies are now targeting young people via social networking sites.

For more information on the 'Get real. Get a prescription' campaign, visit www.realdanger.co.uk