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
. 2022 Oct 13;17(10):e0275272.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275272. eCollection 2022.

Facebook as a source of access to medicines

Tomasz Zaprutko  1 , Dorota Kopciuch  1 , Anna Paczkowska  1 , Józefina Sprawka  2 , Julia Cynar  2 , Monika Pogodzińska  2 , Katarzyna Niewczas  2 , Aleksandra Stolecka  2 , Maria Sygit  2 , Michał Michalak  3 , Piotr Ratajczak  1 , Krzysztof Kus  1
Affiliations

Facebook as a source of access to medicines

Tomasz Zaprutko et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Over the last decade, we've observed an enormous social media development, which have recently become commercial services. Hence, we aimed to verify if Facebook might be considered as a source of access to medicines. We also intended to identify prescription (Rx) and over the counter (OTC) medicines if available on that platform. The study was conducted from January 2019 to July 2020. We investigated offers of pharmaceuticals posted on Facebook (individual posts and communities) between 2016 and 2019. Medicines were divided into Rx and OTC brands and in accordance with their possible therapeutic use. We verified whether the medicines were for sale, to exchange, or available for free. Posts and groups were investigated for example, by entering the phrase "for free," followed by a city in Poland. Out of 409 offers, 380 (92.91%) concerned Rx brands and 29 (7.09%) OTC brands. 315 (77.02%) medications were available "for free". In 47 (11.49%) cases, an "exchange" was expected, and 47 (11.49%) announcements were marked as "for sale". Cardiovascular medicines (n = 125; 30.56%) were the most popular. There were also antidiabetics (n = 38; 9.29%) and antipsychotics (n = 28; 6.84%). We also found clear candidates for misuse. These were opioids (n = 7; 1.71%), benzodiazepines (n = 2; 0.48%), clomifene (n = 1; 0.24%), and letrozole (n = 1; 0.24%). Facebook provides the possibility of uncontrolled access to medicines. The majority of offers concerned Rx brands, including opioids and benzodiazepines. Medicines offered on Facebook were mainly accessible for free. The scope and the number of medications offered on Facebook should make this issue a hazardous phenomenon.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The example of the illegal online trade of medicines.
Offer including morphine (Sevredol®) and tramadol (Polram Combo®). Source: Facebook. The URL address was not collected and is not reported to avoid the possible traceability of the Facebook user and to not to contravene the data protection or the GDPR. The presented figure is similar but not identical (partial screenshot with concealed parts of the picture) to the original image and is therefore only for illustrative purposes.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The example of the illegal online trade of medicines.
Offer for estazolam (Estazolam®). Source: Facebook. The URL address was not collected and is not reported to avoid the possible traceability of the Facebook user and to not to contravene the data protection or the GDPR. The presented figure is similar but not identical (partial screenshot with concealed parts of the picture) to the original image and is therefore only for illustrative purposes.
Fig 3
Fig 3. The example of the illegal online trade of medicines.
Offer for palbociclib (Ibrance®). Source: Facebook. The URL address was not collected and is not reported to avoid the possible traceability of the Facebook user and to not to contravene the data protection or the GDPR. The presented figure is similar but not identical (partial screenshot with concealed parts of the picture) to the original image and is therefore only for illustrative purposes.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Goods expected in exchange for medicines.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Shabot MM. Medicine on the Internet. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2001;14: 27–31. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291308/ doi: 10.1080/08998280.2001.11927727 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Song H, Omori K, Kim J, Tenzek KE, Hawkins JM, Lin W-Y, et al.. Trusting Social Media as a Source of Health Information: Online Surveys Comparing the United States, Korea, and Hong Kong. J Med Internet Res. 2016;18. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4193 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nielsen S, Barratt MJ. Prescription drug misuse: is technology friend or foe? Drug Alcohol Rev. 2009;28: 81–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2008.00004.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Emma Hammett. Online Drug Addiction & Misuse: new rules to combat misuse. In: Online First Aid [Internet]. 9 Apr 2019 [cited 9 Jul 2020]. https://onlinefirstaid.com/online-drug-addiction/
    1. mckesson-europe-otc-medicines-sales-data-data.pdf. https://www.mckesson.eu/mck-en/resource/blob/24540/7a53568c088bf726ba088...