ArticleBMJ open2012
Public health concerns for anti-obesity medicines imported for personal use through the internet: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Signals of Adverse Reactions to Herbal Medicines: Evidence and Document Analysis Based on a Scoping Review.Drug safety · 2025Article
- Quality of dorzolamide hydrochloride and timolol maleate containing eye drops distributed online.Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2023Article
- A comprehensive analysis of selected medicines collected from private drug outlets of Dhaka city, Bangladesh in a simple random survey.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Patient safety and public health concerns: poor dissolution rate of pioglitazone tablets obtained from China, Myanmar and internet sites.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2021Article
- Examining the Potential of Blockchain Technology to Meet the Needs of 21st-Century Japanese Health Care: Viewpoint on Use Cases and Policy.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- A Cross-Sectional Investigation of the Quality of Selected Medicines for Noncommunicable Diseases in Private Community Drug Outlets in Cambodia during 2011-2013.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2019Article
- A Cross-Sectional Investigation for Verification of Globalization of Falsified Medicines in Cambodia, Indicated by Tablets of Sildenafil Citrate.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies.British medical bulletin · 2016Review
- Study on health hazards through medicines purchased on the Internet: a cross-sectional investigation of the quality of anti-obesity medicines containing crude drugs as active ingredients.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2015Article
- Illicit Internet availability of drugs subject to recall and patient safety consequences.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2015Article
- A cross-sectional investigation of the quality of selected medicines in Cambodia in 2010.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2014Article
- Improving global health governance to combat counterfeit medicines: a proposal for a UNODC-WHO-Interpol trilateral mechanism.BMC medicine · 2013Article
- Effects of packaging and storage conditions on the quality of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid - an analysis of Cambodian samples.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2013Article
- Sexual medicine: Online risks to health--the problem of counterfeit drugs.Nature reviews. Urology · 2012Article
- Quality assessment of DiflucanMedicine access @ point of careArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection.2012
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore the circulation of anti-obesity medicines via the internet and their quality.
designCross-sectional study.
settingInternet pharmacies and pharmaceutical suppliers accessible from Japan.
participantsAnti-obesity medicines were purchased using relevant keywords on Japanese Google search engine. Blogs and advertisement-only sites were excluded. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: 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.
results82 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.
conclusionsMany 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.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.