Public health concerns for anti-obesity medicines imported for personal use through the internet: a cross-sectional study.
Public health concerns for anti-obesity medicines imported for personal use through the internet: a cross-sectional study.
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DOI:
10.1136/bmjopen-2012-000854
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发表时间:
2012
期刊:
影响因子:
2.9
通讯作者:
Kimura K
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Khan MH;Tanimoto T;Nakanishi Y;Yoshida N;Tsuboi H;Kimura K
To explore the circulation of anti-obesity medicines via the internet and their quality. Cross-sectional study. Internet pharmacies and pharmaceutical suppliers accessible from Japan. Anti-obesity medicines were purchased using relevant keywords on Japanese Google search engine. Blogs and advertisement-only sites were excluded. The authenticity of the samples was investigated in collaboration with the manufacturers of the samples and medicine regulatory authorities. Quality of the samples was assessed by pharmacopoeial analyses using high-performance liquid chromatography. 82 samples were purchased from 36 internet sites. Approximately half of the sites did not mention a physical address, and 45% of the samples did not contain a package insert. A variety of custom declarations were made for the shipments of the samples: personal health items, supplement, medicines, general merchandise, tea and others. Among 82 samples, 52 samples were analysed to check their pharmacopoeial quality. Authenticity responses were received from only five of 20 manufacturing companies. According to the pharmacopoeial analyses and authenticity investigation, three of the samples were identified as counterfeits and did not contain any active ingredients. Two of these samples were confirmed as counterfeits by the manufacturer of the authentic products. The manufacturer of the other sample did not respond to our request for an authenticity check even after several communication attempts. These counterfeit cases have been reported at the rapid alert system of Western Pacific Region of the WHO. Many counterfeit and unapproved anti-obesity medicines may be easily bypassing regulatory checks during shipping and are widely circulated through the internet. Regulatory authorities should take measures to prevent these medicines from entering countries to safeguard their citizens. Quality of online anti-obesity medicines. Circulation of unapproved anti-obesity medicines via the internet. Counterfeit and substandard anti-obesity medicines, orlistat are identified. False and vague custom declarations were made by some of the shipping companies to bypass regulatory checks of unapproved online medicines. Small sample size and low authenticity response rate are limitations of this study. However, the study provides valuable information for regulatory authorities on how unapproved and counterfeit medicines are being circulated through the internet. Concerted efforts of authentic manufacturers and medicine regulatory authorities are a must to combat counterfeits and ensure access of quality medicines to online consumers.
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影响因子:
3.3
作者:
Dondorp, AM;Newton, PN;White, NJ
通讯作者:
White, NJ
影响因子:
3.3
作者:
Khan, Mohiuddin Hussain;Okumura, Junko;Kimura, Kazuko
通讯作者:
Kimura, Kazuko
影响因子:
3.7
作者:
Kaur, Harparkash;Goodman, Catherine;Abdulla, Salim
通讯作者:
Abdulla, Salim
影响因子:
7.4
作者:
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通讯作者:
Pleis J
影响因子:
15.8
作者:
Cockburn R;Newton PN;Agyarko EK;Akunyili D;White NJ
通讯作者:
White NJ