One of the most terrible problems facing most of the people these days is the high prices of medicines and their inability to purchase their needs. The UK residents face the same financial problem according to many reports by governmental and non-governmental health institutions.
Actually, in the UK and USA, the prices of some medicines are twice as much as they are in other countries. That is why many people search online for discounts and other alternative medicines. They also seek purchasing online from the countries where prices are lower such as Canada.
However, with the recent increase in purchasing medicines online, some researches have been done. These researches show that the number of legitimate online pharmacies is not as big as the number of websites and only a few online clinics can really be trusted.
As we are an experienced legitimate online pharmacy at Pharmica, we can say that these researches are true and ordering medicines or asking for consultations there is really risky.
The biggest online pharmacies market place in the world is the USA. According to an analysis made in July 2011 on the US online pharmacies by the NABP (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy), there were 8,300 online pharmacies. What is terrifying is that just 3% of them were fully legitimate while 97% of them were a scam. The analysis found that:
• 85% of these online pharmacies don’t ask the patients or their visitors for a valid prescription. You just place your order and receive the medication; that is it. This is terrible because no medication should be sold without a prescription to make sure that the patient will use it for a specific reason which is his/her illness only.
• 55% of these online pharmacies offered drugs that are not approved by the FDA.
• The physical address of 40% of these online pharmacies is not within the US borders. Also, 45% of these online pharmacies are operated from outside the country. This is risky because the authorities cannot deal with them if you have a complaint about the medication they sent to you.
Putting your trust in an online pharmacy that operates from outside your country is very risky. You can’t make sure that they are legitimate or safe. The FDA is trying to have full control over these online pharmacies but it seems impossible. They will not be able to have control over foreign websites or over the medicines sold by them. That is why it is dangerous to buy medicines from these websites because they can change the ingredients or send you a different medicine in the same packaged advertised on their website. You will not even discover what is wrong until something happens to your health.
Also, some websites sell drugs that didn’t get the approval from the FDA especially generic drugs. Generic drugs work perfectly if they are purchased from registered, legal websites. However, they can cause terrible health problems if they are a scam.
Most registered online pharmacies say that most of the websites that claim they provide services to the British people are not even located in the UK. However, there are legitimate online UK-based online pharmacies such as Pharmica. These websites are regulated by the UK government and fall under the supervision of many organizations within the UK to make sure that their services are safe.
One of the recent studied wad done on a random number of online pharmacies. The team of researchers ordered medications from these websites. They ordered brands approved by the FDA only. Before placing the orders, they classified the pharmacies they chose into legitimate and non-legitimate according to their suspicions.
When they studies the medications they received, they found that 3 Viagra drugs were not genuine and can put the health of people at risk. 20% of the orders were drugs that don’t match the prescription. Some websites sell drugs under famous brand names such as Lipitor (Famous cholesterol-lowering medication). However, these drugs are not original and they are not even effective generic medications. Generic drugs are good when they are approved by the FDA and effective. Otherwise, they are just a scam.
The researchers tested all the drugs they received and were shocked that over 80% of them should not be used. Only 20% of the drugs were exactly as they should be.
Another old study was made in 2008 by the European Alliance to make sure that the drugs sold online can be trusted. They ordered drugs from 116 online pharmacies and clinics. They chose the 116 websites randomly; some by typing words like “cheap medications” or “best online pharmacies” in the search engines and other websites by e-mail services. 90% of the websites didn’t ask for a valid prescription even when they placed prescription-only drugs. 85% of the pharmacies didn’t have a physical presence. 63% of the medications they received didn’t work and when they tested them, most of them were not even effective.
So the question now is what can you do?
According to the UK laws, it is illegal to buy drugs from unregistered websites whose physical presence is outside the UK and sell these drugs to people. The drugs that you purchase from these kinds of websites should be used by the buyer only. Many people use this to buy their drugs if they are not available in the UK pharmacies especially drugs for serious health conditions.
We at Pharmica care about our patients. We have enough experience as a registered online UK-based pharmacy that makes us experts in selling drugs online. That is why we offer our visitors these four tips in order to avoid any kinds of troubles while placing your order.
1. Search for online pharmacies that have a physical presence. For example, our online website Pharmica https://www.pharmica.co.uk has its physical presence at 1-5 Clerkenwell Rd, London, EC1M 5PA, United Kingdom.
Most pharmacies now have websites where you can place your order.
2. Try to find an online tool to make sure whether the website is legal or not. You can also check the social networks associated with the website and make sure that true people buy medications from there.
3. Make sure that the website is registered. Check the whole website and look for proofs that the website is legitimate.
4. Visit the pharmacy associated with the website and ask them if the website belongs to them or not especially if you are going to buy drugs from them regularly. Pharmacists understand the concerns of people about online pharmacies and they will be glad to answer all your questions.
The Conclusion:
I guess you now know how dangerous unregistered online pharmacies are. That is why you should stick with well-known online pharmacies that have an actual physical presence.
At Pharmica, we offer a wide range of services. We care about our patients as if they are family members because we are one big community. All our services are safe, discreet, and convenient. All our drugs are sent to you from our Central London based registered pharmacy.
We hope you a speedy recovery and feel better soon.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
