Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 28;13(8):e0203185.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203185. eCollection 2018.

A challenge for healthcare but just another opportunity for illegitimate online sellers: Dubious market of shortage oncology drugs

András Fittler  1 , Róbert György Vida  1 , Valter Rádics  1 , Lajos Botz  1
Affiliations

A challenge for healthcare but just another opportunity for illegitimate online sellers: Dubious market of shortage oncology drugs

András Fittler et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Drug shortages mean a challenge to healthcare systems. Exposed patients or health care providers may seek alternative resources for these products online. The purpose of our study was to analyze the online availability of oncology shortage drugs at national and at international levels in 2014 and 2016.

Methods: We tested the online accessibility of oncology shortage drugs by simulating the Internet search method of patients. Search results were evaluated according to operational, distributional, and patient safety characteristics.

Results: In 2014 and 2016 all (100%) antineoplastic agents affected by shortages were available on the Internet without medical prescription. The number of relevant websites among search engine results has decreased from 112 to 98, while online vendors actually offering oncology shortage drugs for sale has risen from 66.1% to 80.6% within relevant websites in the two evaluated years. None of the online sellers were classified as legitimate or accredited by LegitScript and VIPPS online pharmacy verification databases.

Conclusion: According to our findings shortage oncology drugs are widely available online. To manage shortages and illegal Internet trade national and international standardized shortage reporting and information systems, regularly updated Internet pharmacy verification databases are needed. As well, institutional procurement and medication use review policies are required.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flowchart illustrating methodology and main results regarding online availability of and prescription requirement for shortage oncology active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Letters indicate geographical localization of evaluated databases N: national, I: international; numbers indicate year of evaluation 14 (2014), 16 (2016); third quarter of the calendar year is labelled as Q3.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The pattern of identified oncology shortage active ingredients in 2014 and 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pauwels K, Huys I, Casteels M, Simoens S. Drug shortages in European countries: a trade-off between market attractiveness and cost containment? BMC Health Serv Res. 2014. September 26;14:438 10.1186/1472-6963-14-438 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Pharmaceutical Federation FIP. Report of the International Summit on Medicines Shortage. Toronto, Canada 20–21 June 2013. [Internet] [cited 2016 November 14]. Available from: http://www.fip.org/files/fip/publications/FIP_Summit_on_Medicines_Shorta...
    1. McKeever AE, Bloch JR, Bratic A. Drug Shortages and the Burden of Access to Care: A critical issue affecting patients with cancer. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2013. October;17(5):490–5. 10.1188/13.CJON.490-495 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gray A, Manasse HR Jr. Shortages of medicines: a complex global challenge. Bull World Health Organ. 2012. March 1;90(3):158–158A. 10.2471/BLT.11.101303 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Weerdt E, Simoens S, Casteels M, Huys I. Toward a European definition for a drug shortage: a qualitative study. Front Pharmacol. 2015. October 30;6:253 10.3389/fphar.2015.00253 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types