PHARMA LITERATI

A multi-crore global drug racket was being operated through the dark web in the garb of online sale of medicines from a nondescript house tucked away in Alambagh area of the city. And the 21-year-old kingpin had dabbled in a failed online business before going fullthrottle into shipping contraband to Europe through Dark Net. Son of a retired PCS officer and hotel management graduate from Lucknow, the drug dealer, Dipu Singh, was arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Delhi, sleuths last week. At least 12,000 psychotropic tablets masked as medicine and fitness supplements were seized from his home and the cache is being examined for cannabis content. He skirted the law for over two years by accepting payment in cryptocurrency. The case was cracked after a consignment shipped to United Kingdom was seized by NCB, Mumbai, on December 9 last year. Investigations led to seizure of another consignment to Romania on January 17 this year. The cargo did not bear Know Your Cust...

Demonetization has neutral impact on sales of medicines after the first week of government's "bold'' announcement, while a substantial part of consumers also switched to ordering medicines through online pharmacies like PharmEasy and 1mg . While retailers and stockists did not register any dip in sales, e-pharmacies are witnessing a sales spurt of 10-20%, with many consumers stocking up for a month or so, and preponing their medicine purchase. This could also be attributed to the fact that consumers were allowed to buy drugs with banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes against a prescription. The currencies could also be used at retail stores, as well for cash-on-delivery in online orders. Retail data collated from stockists across the country showed no reduction in their sales, pharmaceutical research firm AIOCD Awacs said. The survey of 350-plus leading stockists across the country, representing over 2% of the organised pharmaceutical market sales, was done to u...

Growing e-commerce in India is facilitating significant increase in online pharmacies, leading to easy availability of pharmaceutical drugs and their abuse , the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) says. In its annual report for 2015, published on Friday, the NCB says abuse of pharmaceutical drugs in India has assumed serious proportions in recent times and the problem seems to be more serious in the northeast and northwest region of the country. "The emergence of illegal websites (Internet Pharmacy) established in the USA, Europe etc. offering unregulated trade in a range of prescription medicines over the Internet has taken firm root in India as a supplier. "These online pharmacies transmit orders from paying customers to agents in India, who then procure the medicines from either legitimate or illegitimate sources before dispatching them to customers by mail and courier," the NCB says. The sheer volume of international post makes it impossible to screen ...

Amid a nationwide strike of chemists against "illegal" online sale of medicines, private players in the e-pharmacy space have come together to form an association. "The Indian Internet Pharmacy Association (IIPA) officially formed with the mission to promote and protect the public health by ensuring that its members operate in accordance with the existing Drugs & Cosmetics Rules of Information Technology Act, 2008, and Pharmacy Practice Regulations, 2015," IIPA said in a statement. With growing penetration and awareness of e-commerce companies enabling retailing of medicines and healthcare products, IIPA wants to make sure that its members adhere to the rules governing pharmacies and the dispensing of prescription medications. IIPA will cater to public's demand for safe and easily accessible medicines at affordable prices. It also aims to be at the forefront to fulfil the Prime Minister's vision for a Digital India, it added. The asso...

Indian Express reports this interesting news about online Pharmacies. Online drug sales, which are presently prohibited, may soon receive a boost from the central government’s latest deliberations to initiate a monitored e-sale mechanism of drug and medical supplies on web portals . During its latest 48th Drug Consultative Committee meeting, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has formed a sub-committee to check the feasibility of online pharmacy. Currently, only licensed chemist suppliers can physically sell medicines after checking the patient’s prescription and in presence of a registered pharmacist. With no foolproof method in place to scrutinise a prescription online before dispatching the medicines, the e-retail of drugs has not been permitted under the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and Drug and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. According to Drug Controller General of India, G N Singh, the online scenario may change now. In a reply to Ghatkopar-based ChemistsO...

Following Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recent actions on e-commerce site Snapdeal.com, the state regulator has also sent notices to e-commerce site, shopclues.com, for online sales of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kit. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) pills are recommended by physicians only for pregnancies that haven't exceeded 63 days. Medical abortion pills are prescription drugs that are different from emergency contraceptive pills. They are taken between 7 to 9 weeks of pregnancy and cause the embryo to be expelled from the uterus. Chemists can dispense the drug only against a prescription issued by a doctor who is registered under the MTP Act.  Maharashtra FDA in its recent raids at e-commerce sites office in Mumbai found drugs like sildenafil citrate tablets, which are to be sold on prescription by urologists, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and dermatologists and also emergency contraceptives i-pill and Unwanted-72. Rule 65 pr...