Illegal drug trade is going on the Internet. The site claims to import from Turkey medicines for diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases for which a prescription is required. The Medicines Agency has determined that the site operates outside the law and will report the cybercrime department at the GDBOP, BNT reported.
The site claims to have been licensed to sell over-the-counter drugs online since 2015. A check by the Medicines Agency showed otherwise.
"IAL has not registered such a site. That is, he carries out illegal trade and the information contained on it cannot be accepted as reliable by the citizens", said master pharmacist Bogdan Kirilov - director of IAL. The packages of the medicines offered by the site are in a foreign language.
"That is, not authorized for use in the country. All the information will again be sent to the relevant structures in the Ministry of the Interior," stated Master Pharmacist Bogdan Kirilov - Director of IAL.
Buying prescription drugs without a prescription is dangerous, doctors say.
"There are significant risks if drugs are taken that are not suitable for the specific patient or are contraindicated even for his accompanying diseases. Blood medications are not harmless. Each group of medications is for the treatment of blood pressure and has its own side effects and contraindications, which if the patient is not familiar with them and takes can lead to complications," added Dr. Stoyan Stefanov, cardiologist UMBAL "ST Ekaterina" .
It is even more dangerous to order drugs of unknown origin, such as the site offers.
"For them, there is no guarantee of quality and efficacy and safety of medicinal products. There is no information on how they are manufactured and whether the storage conditions for each individual product are stored accordingly. So, citizens should not under any circumstances purchase medicinal products from such type of illegal sites," said Master Pharmacist Bogdan Kirilov, Director of IAL.
The site claims to be owned by a company based in Stara Zagora. Its name differs by one letter from a real company. From there they stated that they are not engaged in e-commerce of medicines and have no relationship with the site.
And the Medicines Agency explains that we can only buy medicines without a prescription online. And the site must necessarily have a physical pharmacy or drug store and a pan-European logo, which proves that it is legitimate.
"All sites that receive permission to trade must contain a logo. It refers to the registers of the IAL", stated master pharmacist Bogdan Kirilov - director of the IAL.
In the registers you can see if the trader has a permit. Since the beginning of the year, the Medicines Agency has also received a report about another site that illegally trades in medicines.