Country Correspondent: Adam Briggs
The U.K.’s chief pharmacy regulator has set new rules to help protect people when buying medicines online. Following significant increases in the use of online pharmacies in recent years, the safeguards aim to both reduce the chance of people buying the wrong drugs and regulate access to addictive medicines. The new measures include: requiring additional identity checks for people buying medicine online; ensuring that prescription drugs can be purchased only after consultation with a health care professional; and requiring online pharmacies to check with a patient’s general practitioner before issuing medications that are potentially addictive or liable to abuse.
