Legal controls of medicines are in place in the European Community to safeguard the health of the public and ensure the suitability of products for public consumption. In the UK, certain medicines are categorised "prescription only" due to their potent nature and therefore, they can only be safely used under the care and supervision of suitably qualified healthcare professionals.
Against this background, the Agency has concerns about the availability of medicines over the Internet, particularly prescription only medicines (POMs). This is because in many cases the people that offer POMs for sale over the Internet are not qualified healthcare professionals, and do not require a prescription before supplying a POM to a member of the public. This means that members of the public may acquire medicines without the benefit of a consultation with an appropriate healthcare professional and risk being supplied with medicines that are not safe or suitable for them.
The public must take care when buying medicines over the Internet, particularly if they think that the medicine would not be available "over the counter" from their local pharmacy, as the medicine they are buying may be a prescription only medicine. Prescription only medicines should only be taken in consultation with a healthcare professional, in order that the appropriate product is prescribed and any side effects can be carefully monitored. This is particularly important when members of the public are taking at the same time, other medicines with which there may be a risk of interactions. For such reasons, the Agency strongly urges any person contemplating purchasing what may be a prescription only medicine to consult with their doctor, rather than purchase the medicine direct from a supplier, such as an Internet supplier, without a prescription.
