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The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has today laid out the findings of a parliamentary roundtable discussion on the dangers of fake online pharmacies and unregulated medicines in a report that urges Labour to co-ordinate a “system-wide approach” to protect patients’ safety.

The roundtable, attended by pharmacy and pharmaceutical representatives, health regulators and patient groups, found an increasing number of illegal operators are impersonating and cloning legitimate online pharmacies and misusing GPhC registrations.

Among those who attended the roundtable, chaired by All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) chair and Labour MP Sadik Al-Hassan, were the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Care Quality Commission, General Medical Council, Patients’ Association and the Welsh Government. Pharmacy bodies also took part in the discussion.

The GPhC chief executive Kathie Cashell said it can only “directly oversee legitimate providers” and insisted collaboration between the MHRA and “wider system” was needed to identify fake online pharmacies.

“There is a proliferation of illegal operators exploiting gaps in oversight, jurisdictional complexity and the anonymity of the digital space and posing a significant risk to patients,” the report warned.

GPhC chair Gisela Abbam said the risks posed by fake online pharmacies was “an international issue” because websites are hosted in “multiple countries” where products are being sent from. Abbam called for “cross-border collaboration”.

MHRA: We don’t know how many fake online pharmacies are operating

The MHRA’s chief safety officer Dr Alison Cave told the roundtable that “fake online pharmacies are part of a broader trend of high-volume, low-risk online criminal activity”.

However, according to the report, Dr Cave admitted the MHRA did not know how many fake online pharmacies are operating because they are often hosted outside countries they supply products to and appear and disappear “very quickly, making enforcement and removal complex”.

The report revealed sedatives, strong painkillers, erectile dysfunction medicines and weight management medicines were frequently sold by fake sites.

The Patients’ Association chief executive Rachel Power told the roundtable its research found patients were “often being driven” to fake online pharmacies “by necessity rather than choice”, which deepened the importance of awareness campaigns being “empathetic rather than judgmental”.

The research found a range of factors forced people to turn to fake sites, such as difficulties accessing GP services, long waiting times for primary and secondary care, addiction, cost pressures, especially for patients with chronic conditions and the convenience and privacy of online purchasing.

It also found exposure to targeted advertising, including AI-generated and misleading content, and a “disparity between what a healthcare professional feels the patient needs and what the patient actually wants” were factors encouraging people to use fake online pharmacies.

Criminal exploitation of digital platforms

The report said “criminal exploitation of digital platforms” was driving the increase in fake sites and called for “stronger enforcement, disruption of illegal business models, clearer identification of legitimate providers and improved public awareness”.

“Everyone should play a significant role in communicating and raising awareness of this, including legal providers and representative organisations such as the Digital Clinical Excellence Forum, who should support regulatory requirements to improve public confidence,” the report said.

“However, it is important that campaigns do not shame patients for the choices they have made. They should instead provide practical, actionable guidance on how to safely access medicines online.”

The report said a public awareness campaign should be hosted on social media and in “community spaces” such as campuses and gyms.

It also called on search engines such as Google and Bing to demote or remove offending websites, prioritise UK-registered pharmacies in search results and display warnings about websites that have been reported by regulators.

“The MHRA has already worked with eBay to block the illegal sale and supply of medicines in the UK using AI technology,” the report said.

Limited action and engagement to date from technology companies

However, attendees at the roundtable noted there had been “limited action and engagement to date from technology companies that own search engines and major social media platforms”.

The report called on the Government to introduce “legislative and regulatory changes to place clearer responsibilities on companies and require them to take effective action to significantly reduce consumers’ access to unregulated online sources of medicines”.

The report added: “Social media post moderation is likely to be more difficult but the Online Safety Act 2023, while not specifically referencing medicines, could still be relevant in terms of the responsibilities it places on platforms to protect users from harm which Ofcom are now actively enforcing.”

The GPhC said the APPG will review the report and make recommendations to the Government on combatting fake online pharmacies and the supply of unregulated medicines.