Order Medication Online

Reviewing Information About Prescription Drugs

Keeping updated on information about prescription drugs is as important as it is common for items to change over the course of time.  The consumer should be aware of the benefits and side effects of each medication before taking the drug.  Products could change or clinical trials may discover new information about the drug that could affect the consumer.  It is important that the consumer be responsible for knowing the changes and why they are important.  Most medical professionals will inform patients about medication changes; however, there are a large number of people that order online and pay only rare visits to a health center.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) routinely publishes resources to help keep consumers up to date.  There are many different resources to use including the Index to Drug-Specific Information ( prescription drugs list ), FDA Drug Safety Newsletter, MedWatch Safety Alerts, drug safety announcements from CDER and MedWatch, and FDA Drug Safety Podcasts.  The agency also publishes Drug Safety Evaluations and general safety summaries of recently approved prescription medications.  Consumers should also be aware of Public Health Advisories and related press releases.  The FDA also regulates the labeling of drugs.  All label changes are submitted and must be approved by the FDA before being put on the market.

Don't gamble with your health by buying drugs from unlicensed ...

As a result Cumbrian health experts are warning people about the risks of buying medication from unlicensed online pharmacies or websites.

Buying medication or any drug from an unlicensed website is risky. The products available may either be illegal or unlicensed drugs, or not contain unknown ingredients. Ordering and taking them is as risky as buying any drug off the street as it could be made up of any cocktail of substances in unknown quantities.

There are fully licensed online pharmacies which are approved by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), and are expected to adhere to their code of ethics.

These sites will only provide prescription medication if the buyer has a prescription from their GP. If anyone buying prescription medication is not asked to produce a prescription, they should not use the website or order any medication or drugs from it.

Drugs ordered over the internet from an unregistered website could also be out-of-date, diluted or fake. As a result they can be very dangerous to health and the results very unpredictable.

All legal online pharmacies have to clearly display:

If a website does not display this information, don’t use it. Only use an online pharmacy that requires a GP prescription.

Anyone in any doubt should go to their local pharmacy instead, where they can also access face to face advice.

Andrea Loudon is Head of Medicines Management for NHS Cumbria. She said: “Ordering any drugs online which aren’t from a registered online pharmacy is gambling with your health. The drugs may be fake and not even contain the medicines they claim to in the correct quantities. This is extremely dangerous, as their effects are completely unknown. We often hear about people buying diet pills online, experiencing unexpected side effects and finding out later that they contain illegal drugs, but this is just as risky with any drug or medication.

“If you need to buy medication online its important that you check you are buying from a properly registered online pharmacy which should ask for a GP prescription. If they do not, and it is a prescription drug, then please do not buy it, instead go to your local pharmacy or if you cannot get there a lot of pharmacies now offer a delivery service and can pick up prescriptions straight from your GP surgery with your permission, just give them a ring to find out more.

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