A cross-sector roundtable convened by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has called for “coordinated action” to address the “growing threat of fake online pharmacies and unregulated medicines”.
The GPhC said the roundtable - held in Parliament yesterday and chaired by pharmacist and Labour MP Sadik Al-Hassan - saw parliamentarians, regulators, healthcare organisations and patient representatives “examine scale of illegal online medicine sales” and “agree priorities for action”.
“There was strong consensus that a coordinated response is needed across regulators, government, enforcement agencies, digital platforms and the healthcare sector,” it added.
Read more: Asda launches disposal scheme for unregulated weight loss jabs
During the roundtable, GPhC chief executive Kathie Cashell highlighted the work the regulator is doing to increase public awareness of fake pharmacies, including the upcoming launch of a new campaign to “help people identify registered pharmacies and understand the risks of using illegal sites”.
Cashell said search engines and social media companies should prioritise registered pharmacies in search results, remove illegal sites and posts more quickly and issue clearer warnings to users.
She also urged payment providers to “disrupt illegal businesses by blocking transactions” and called for “coordinated enforcement across regulators, law enforcement and international partners”.
Read more: Over half of people worried about counterfeit drugs, survey finds
And she said the GPhC would like to see “sustained national public awareness campaigns”.
Patients Association chief executive Rachel Power, who also attended the roundtable, shared research that found “barriers to accessing care” are the main driver of illegal online medicine use.
The GPhC said it will publish a report summarising the discussions from the event, and “will work closely” with Al-Hassan and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pharmacy on “next steps”.
“Serious and complex”
Al-Hassan, who is chair of the APPG on Pharmacy, said fake online pharmacies “are a very serious and complex public safety issue”.
“This roundtable has brought together key players from across the system to begin building a shared understanding of the problem and, crucially, to identify where we must act together,” he added.
“Protecting patients from fake online pharmacies and unregulated and unsafe medicines will require coordinated action - from government and enforcement agencies to tech platforms and payment providers.”
Read more: Warning over fake online pharmacies after patient report
And GPhC chair Gisela Abbam said the safety of patients “must come first”.
She added that yesterday’s roundtable “marks an important step in strengthening collaboration across the system”.
“By working together, we can make it much harder for illegal operators to reach patients and ensure people can access medicines safely and with confidence.”
Read more: Criminals ‘cloning’ pharmacy sites to sell fake weight loss meds
It comes after Asda Pharmacy last week introduced a “judgement-free” disposal scheme for unregulated weight loss jabs.
And it follows a recent survey of 5,000 people finding that 60% worry their prescribed medicines “might be counterfeit or substandard”.
