People are still skeptical about buying medicines from the online pharmacies, but remember we are once skeptical about buying consumer product too online. Things are changing fast, and we are going to buy medications too online in the near future. So, it is essential to know the safe practices of buying medicines online.
While attempting to buy medicines online, one should protect yourself from any unauthentic pharmacies and deal with only licensed and reliable providers. If you log on to the internet, there are plenty of online pharmacy websites from where you can buy both brand and generic medicines with considerable discounts.
Beware of rogue pharmacies
The Food and Drug Administration has released warning notes about the rogue online pharmacies, which claim to sell authentic prescribed medicines and discounted rate. These pharmacies may also offer medicines without prescriptions. They are also selling counterfeit and unapproved drugs too.
These sites may often prominently display the US or Canadian flag, but most of them are operated from the other side of the globe. Falling into their trap, the medicines bought through such websites may be dangerous and also put human health at risk.
Such pharmacies sell medicines which can be harmful to health as they contain:
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Too less or too much of active therapeutically ingredient to treat the disease conditions.
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Not having an active ingredient.
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Harmful or counteracting ingredients.
Active ingredients make the medicines effective for the target illness. If the medicine contains unknown ingredients, it may fail to attend the intended effect, and also may have unexpected interaction with other medicines and cause some dangerous side effects.
Pharma Quotes experts also point out that FDA’s initiatives like BeSafeRx will help you to identify whether the pharmacy you consider is fake or genuine.
To be on the safer side, stay away from the online pharmacies which:
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Offer you medicines even without prescriptions of a healthcare provider.
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Don’t have U.S. state license to function as pharmacists.
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Offer low pricing, often too good to be true type offers.
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Get linked from unsolicited spam emails.
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Located outside the United States and claim to ship worldwide.
These medicines sold by rogue pharmacists online may also not have been stored appropriately within a temperature controlled warehouses, which may also cause the medicines to be inactive or ineffective.
Choosing a good online pharmacy
However, the majority of the online pharmacies you come across may be genuine. You can check for these signs to identify safe pharmacies:
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Asks for a valid prescription from physicians or other licensed parishioners to issue the medicines.
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They are licensed by the local state board for pharmacies or equivalent agencies. The pharmacy name will be listed on the state board of pharmacy listing.
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Will have a licensed pharmacist to answer your queries.
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May have a physical address in the United States, with a specific street address.
You may also access the NABP (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy) website also to check for the Pharmacy Practice License of the website. The authentic pharmacists will have a VIPPS® Seal affixed. This certifies the safety of the internet pharmacy on meeting all state licensure requirements. You may also look at the consumer feedbacks and rating of various pharmacies too to find out the popularity and reliability of those.
