The U.S. Trade Representative’s annual report on “notorious markets” says that nearly all of the world’s 35,000 online pharmacies are being run illegally, and consumers who use them risk getting ineffective or dangerous drugs, according to the Associated Press.
The report also names about three dozen online retailers, many of them in China or elsewhere in Asia, that it said are allegedly engaged in selling counterfeit products or other illegal activities. It says 96% of online pharmacies were found to be violating the law, many operating without a license and selling medicines without prescriptions and safety warnings.
Their websites often look like legitimate e-commerce platforms, sometimes with false claims that they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says the report released Wednesday. The FDA and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have both issued warnings about risks of buying prescription medicines from such sources.
The report cited a survey by the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies’ Global Foundation that found nearly one in four Americans who have used online pharmacies reported having encountered substandard, fake, or harmful medicines.
