In the absence of effective laws and with virtually no strings attached, the rising number of online pharmacies operating out of India are reportedly tarnishing the image of the prosperous pharmaceutical industry of the country.
The industry leaders and experts have hence called for stringent laws and constant monitoring of these mushrooming online pharmacies which were largely responsible for exporting spurious drugs to other countries.
"At present there are virtually no laws to bridle them and also to check if they have valid registration. India also should come out with some norms and close monitoring as US FDA does,'' said an industry observer.
Recently US FDA has cautioned the online customers about purchasing medicines without prescription from online pharmacies and has put as many as 24 of them in the blacklist. They claimed that many of them are working from other countries.
"At this point, it appears that these web sites are operated from outside of the United States. Consumers should be wary, if there is no way to contact the web site pharmacy by phone, if prices are dramatically lower than the competition, or if no prescription from your doctor is required," FDA statement said.
"India is an increasingly significant source of counterfeit pharmaceutical products and the country's numerous online pharmacies are believed to be a major channel for the export of counterfeits to consumers worldwide,'' said a recent report by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
"In cases where counterfeit pharmaceutical products bear a deceptive mark, civil and criminal remedies are available under India's trademark statute. However, the effectiveness of such remedies is undermined by excessive judicial delays and in criminal case, extremely low rates of conviction,'' the report said.
After Pharmabiz sent inquiries to a number of such online pharmacies, it was found that most of them refused to reveal their contact addresses, except the e-mail ids, and details of their licences. Only a section of the online drug sellers have their phone numbers and addresses on the website and majority of the sellers are into trading of drugs for lifestyle diseases.
Some months back, Indian authorities stumbled upon the huge online trade of spurious drugs when the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested the CEO of an ISO-2000 company in Kolkota. The company was into the trading of narcotics and other psychotropic substances online.
"After taking orders from customers across the globe, they were sending the drug consignments through post with misleading names as labels. To export psychotropic substances legally, one requires an export authorisation from the narcotics commissioner," a source said.
Available information indicates that the illicit sale of pharmaceuticals containing controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances via the Internet and the illicit distribution of such substances by mail are global problems, and resolving these problems required urgent action by the international community. Evidence collected by regulatory and law enforcement authorities indicated that several billion doses of controlled substances are illicitly sold each year, according to a report by the Narcotics Bureau.
The sale include substances with a high potential of "abuse" such as opioids, stimulants and benzeodiasepines and substances with possibly fatal health risks when consumed without medical supervision, such as fentanyl and secobarbital.