Online pharmacy

An online pharmacy is a pharmacy that operates on the Internet to sell medications to consumers. There are online pharmacies in many countries of the world—from India, the U.S., Germany, the UK—and many other nations that sell to consumers in their own countries and often to consumers worldwide.

Depending on its location and local regulations, an online pharmacy may or may not require prescriptions to purchase prescription medications.

Prices at a given online pharmacy can vary from one city or country to another. Typically, drug prices at online pharmacies located in countries with drug price controls in place (i.e., India, UK, Germany, South Africa) will have more affordable costs. In contrast, costs at pharmacies in countries where there are no drug price controls (i.e., U.S.) will usually be much higher. Especially for consumers seeking low-priced medications, it can be very worthwhile to compare prices at various online pharmacies. Prices can vary as much as 80 percent or more for one medication from one country to another.

Risks and concerns

Illegal or unethical pharmacies sometimes send outdated, substituted, or counterfeit medications to the person who ordered the drug instead of the real medication.^[1]>^[2]
Sometimes, an online pharmacy may not be located in a country that is claimed. For example, one study of drug shipments claiming to be from Canada revealed many of the drugs actually originated in several other countries and were often false medications.^[3]
Minors can order controlled substances without adult supervision.
Other concerns include potential lack of confidentiality, improper packaging, inability to check for drug interactions, and several other issues.