PETALING JAYA: The high number of websites selling illegal pharmaceutical products indicate that there is high demand from the public for such items, say two pharmaceutical groups.
Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia president Kam Ai Teng said the easy availability of online purchasing, spanning from food to fashion, gifts, books, groceries, and medicine, has led people into becoming “overly trusting with their purchases”.
“This makes them forget that medicines are not ordinary consumer products, and professional medical advice is critical before they consume any form of medicine, whether modern or traditional,” she told FMT.
Last month, Bernama reported that the authorities blocked access to 1,675 websites selling illegal pharmaceutical products and confiscated various products worth more than RM500,000 in early October last year.
The health ministry’s pharmacy services senior director Norhaliza A Halim said 76% of the websites detected selling illegal pharmaceutical products were doing so through e-commerce platforms.
Ignorant consumers
Kam said cheaper costs were not necessarily the main attraction. Other factors included the availability of such products and their accessibility, as well as a lack of knowledge among customers about the dangers of consuming such medicines.
“Some medicines are not available or registered in Malaysia, but can be purchased from online sites,” she said. “Technology has made it easier for online marketers to reach targeted crowds.”
She added that online purchasing made it convenient and reduced the cost of travel, putting consumers at risk of having access to controlled medicines that require authorisation by medical professionals before they can be dispensed.
An example is antibiotics, which should not be purchased or consumed without medical advice to prevent ‘antimicrobial resistance’ caused by long-term misuse, wherein germs become immune to the medications, resulting in diminished drug effectiveness.
She also said that some consumers wish to keep their medical condition or complaints under wraps, so they resort to self-medication through online purchase.
Kam said that people can easily fall for recommendations from social media influencers or others that they know and trust personally, noting that word of mouth remains the most powerful marketing tool.
The Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) pointed to over-hyped claims made in advertisements for products sold on illegal websites and unethical practices among certain business communities, healthcare professionals, and social influencers.
“People tend to believe these claims because they lack health and medicine literacy, creating that high demand,” said MPS president Amrahi Buang.
Dangers of illegal products
Amrahi said the quality, safety and efficacy of these medicines sold illegally cannot be verified since they are not registered with Malaysia’s National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency.
Kam said the main danger of consuming illicit pharmaceutical products lies in not knowing whether it is authentic or counterfeit. Thus, they may cause side effects, no effects or severe effects that can be fatal.
“If the product does not work, it would have wasted the patient’s time and money. This could also lead to late diagnosis and treatment, which results in worse outcomes,” she added.
She also said that buying these illicit products puts patients in a risky position when they develop side effects.
Registered medicines undergo stringent tests and must comply with regulatory standards to be allowed on the market, which includes clear protocols on how to handle adverse events, she said. - FMT
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