Buying Medicine Online: 6 Signs The Drugs You Bought Are Fake

Counterfeit pharmaceuticals have become a huge problem as internet drug sales have skyrocketed, and it isn’t all down to rational adults making informed and measured decisions: a January 2019 survey by The Independent Pharmacy of 2,003 UK adults found that 1,669 didn’t know how to check the legitimacy of medicine purchased online. That’s 83% of the total.

If you buy medicine online from potentially unregulated sellers and you can’t differentiate between real and counterfeit drugs, then you put your health (and your life) at great risk. That risk also presents little reward: fake drugs aren’t generally that much cheaper than their authentic equivalents, even though they can cause massive inconvenience.

Whether you already buy medicine online, plan to in the future, or know someone who might need some advice, it’s important to know how to tell the difference between authentic drugs and fake drugs that contain anything. Here are six signs that drugs purchased online are fake:

The seal is broken (or missing)

There are two big reasons why legitimate drugs sold for medical purposes come with obvious seals: firstly, it’s important to store drugs safely to avoid contamination, and secondly, the presence of an intact seal provides clear evidence that the container hasn’t been opened since it left the production facility. When the customer opens the container and feels the seal break, it gives them a good reason to believe that the contents have been suitably preserved.

So when you receive a container of drugs with a broken seal (or no seal at all), it’s a glaring sign that something is very wrong and you shouldn’t consume anything within. And while this used to be a discretionary matter, that’s now changed — as of February 2019, tamper-proof seals are now mandatory for all dispensed medicines. If you receive anything with a damaged or missing seal, you evidently didn’t use a safe online pharmacy. Send it back without using the product.

There’s no braille name on the packaging

As part of an EU mandate (EU Directive 2004/27/EC), every medicine made available for public purchase must have its name displayed in braille on at least one side of the packaging — additionally, the name must be complete, meaning that abbreviated braille is not acceptable. This was intended to make medicine easier to use for blind and partially sighted buyers but also serves as a useful authenticity check.

If there’s clearly something written on the packaging but you can’t read braille and you consider it questionable, look up the medicine online to find an image of the packaging with the correct markings. If the text is identical but there’s a disparity between the braille, it suggests that the packaging was created fraudulently and contains fake medicine.

Important details are missing

Because keeping track of the manufacturing process is vitally important for investigating issues with medication, every package of medicine will display a batch number and an expiry date (most commonly on the end). These details will also be listed on the top of any internal tablet or pill packaging (the plastic strips that contain the drugs).

If even just one of these pieces of information is missing or clearly incorrect (typically evident through formatting issues) — be sure to compare the details on the packaging with the details on the strips to highlight any disparities — then you certainly shouldn’t trust the medication.

The writing is unclear and/or leaves out important details

Descriptions for medical materials are held to exacting standards. Even minor typos are taken extremely seriously, because the slightest element of ambiguity in medical instructions can lead patients to consume drugs at the wrong times, in the wrong amounts, or with the wrong accompaniments. Clarity is essential, particularly for seniors.

When you receive a shipment of drugs, then, you should carefully review the writing on the packaging. At the very least, it should list the manufacturer, the ingredients (being very specific), and any vital notes about how the medicine should be used or what exactly it does. The language should be straightforward and consistent. If you’re unsure about it, find some packaging of confirmed authenticity and use it as a point of comparison.

There’s no pharmacy label attached

Any container of medicine sold through a pharmacy must have a pharmacy label attached before it’s shipped. It makes no difference whether the pharmacy is a traditional brick-and-mortar operation or an online pharmacy — legitimate medicine demands attribution.

If you buy through an online seller that doesn’t claim to be a pharmacy or a store that does claim to be a pharmacy but sends you medicine without a pharmacy label attached, you’re clearly not dealing with a business that’s properly regulated — making the medicine itself extremely questionable at best.

There’s no patient information leaflet inside

Let’s say that everything about the packaging passes muster: the seal is unopened, the packaging lists the correct braille name, all the right details, and uses clear scientific language, and there’s a suitable pharmacy label attached. Might the drugs still be fake? Well, yes — if you open the package to find that there’s no patient information leaflet (PIL) in there.

The patient information leaflet is a hugely valuable inclusion because it provides the buyer with in-depth information about how to use the medicine, warnings about potential side effects, and contact information for the designer and manufacturer. If the PIL is missing, then either a slick high-end pharmaceutical company made an elementary mistake, or the drugs come from an unscrupulous and potentially dangerous unregulated manufacturer.

Be safe when buying medicine online

If you’re uncertain about drugs you’ve bought online, look for these six signs. Even just one of them is a good reason to doubt authenticity. In general, though, be sure to buy from regulated online pharmacies — head to The Independent Pharmacy’s comprehensive guide on safely buying medicine online, take it to heart, and you’ll never again need to doubt what you receive.