The State Food and Drug Administration announced a case of chaos in online drug sales
In recent years, with the rapid development of pharmaceutical e-commerce, online and offline integration is the general trend, and many offline physical pharmacies have opened their own online stores on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Taobao, and Pinduoduo.
However, there are often various chaos in the online sale of drugs, including the unlicensed operation of drugs, the sale of prohibited drugs, etc., and these violations of laws and regulations have been repeatedly prohibited.
In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, the state has been cracking down on the chaos of online drug sales, and the State Food and Drug Administration has also continued to disclose relevant cases of violations of laws and regulations.
Just recently, the State Food and Drug Administration announced the fifth batch of typical cases of illegal drug online sales, including JD.com and Meituan.
Source: National Medical Products Administration
Specifically, the State Food and Drug Administration announced 5 cases:
The first is the case of illegal sales of prescription drugs by merchants settled in Jingdong Mall. In March 2023, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Fuchuan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, conducted an investigation into Fuchuan Millennium Jianda Pharmacy based on complaints and reports, and found that when the pharmacy sold the prescription drug Jianxing Lung Strength Cough Mixture through Jingdong Mall, the prescription source was untrue.
According to the relevant regulations, the Food and Drug Administration ordered the parties to correct the illegal acts and imposed an administrative penalty of a fine of 5,000 yuan.
The second is the case of merchants settled on the Meituan platform operating drugs without a license. In June 2023, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, conducted an on-site inspection of Jiangxi Zhenkang E-commerce Co., Ltd. based on the clues of complaints and reports.
After investigation, the company opened a "Zhenkang Medical Device Franchise Store" through the Meituan platform without obtaining the "Drug Business License" to sell drugs such as Beifushu bovine alkaline fibroblast growth factor eye drops. In this regard, the company was fined 200,000 yuan and other administrative penalties.
Of course, in addition to JD.com and Meituan merchants, merchants who illegally sell drugs through other online platforms have also been punished.
The third is the case of illegal sales of prescription drugs by merchants settled in Hungrybai.com. In March 2023, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Guang'an District, Guang'an City, Sichuan Province, conducted an on-site inspection of the Wansheng store of Guang'an Zhenghexiang Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd. and found that when the pharmacy sold drugs such as Kidney Stone Tong Granules through Hungrybai.com, the pharmacist did not review and sign the prescription, and there was a risk of reuse of the prescription. The company was fined an administrative penalty of 2,000 yuan.
Fourth, the case of illegal drug purchase by merchants settled in the pharmacy network. In June 2023, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Bishan District, Chongqing Municipality conducted a daily inspection of the Haoxuan Pharmacy in Tongjunge District, Bishan District, Chongqing in accordance with the law, and found that the pharmacy purchased drugs such as alisartan cixil tablets from a certain person Li through WeChat, and then sold them through the pharmacy network, and the pharmacy did not check the qualifications of the other party, did not ask for drug bills and accompanying documents when purchasing drugs.
The party was ordered to correct the illegal act and imposed an administrative penalty of a fine of 40,000 yuan. In addition, the suspected illegal acts of Li Moumou in this case have been handled in a separate case.
Fifth, the case of the "Materia Medica's Online Chinese Medicine Store Website" selling toxic drugs for medical use. In January 2023, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, conducted an investigation on the Xincheng Jiayuan Branch of Zhangzhou Lao Ruilin Pharmacy Chain Co., Ltd. according to the information clues transferred by the National Drug Network Monitoring Platform, and sold the toxic drug "Realgar", a medical drug that is prohibited from online sales, through the "Materia Medicapu Online Chinese Medicine Store Website", and could not provide purchase records and other materials.
The party was given a warning, confiscated 108g of "realgar", fined 50,200 yuan and other administrative penalties.
Although the mainland has issued a series of laws and regulations to regulate online drug sales, it is relatively difficult to supervise due to the particularity and complexity of online drug sales. Some unscrupulous merchants or individuals may take advantage of regulatory loopholes to engage in illegal sales activities.
The chaos of online drug sales is endless
Nowadays, online drug purchase has become an important channel for many people to choose drugs. Online pharmacies offer regular promotions at lower prices than brick-and-mortar stores, and online pharmacies often have a wider selection of medicines, which is a major reason for attracting users to buy drugs online.
However, the gray area of online drug sales has also attracted widespread attention. For example, at 315 this year, the media reported that there were counterfeit and shoddy Chinese medicine products sold on the Pinduoduo platform.
Most of the traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces sold by Pinduoduo are counterfeit and shoddy products, such as dyed lentils used as "sour jujube kernels", bellflower counterfeit American ginseng, and industrial raw material powder as "Panax notoginseng powder", etc., the source points to Bozhou, Anhui Province.
Source: Video Account
Or some unscrupulous merchants often purchase low-quality Chinese medicinal materials at very low prices as a source of goods, and even do not hesitate to adopt adulteration methods to make huge profits with shoddy quality.
On the other hand, online prescription drug sales are frequent. In order to pursue economic benefits, some pharmacies ignore the strict management of prescription drug sales and sell prescription drugs to consumers without a doctor's prescription or prescription review, thus increasing the risk of drug use.
Four months ago, police in Chengdu, Sichuan Province found that four minors had abused dextromethorphan tablets, three of whom were dancing and in high spirits, and the other was delirious and confused, and was sent to the hospital for treatment.
According to media reports, the dextromethorphan tablets they took were prescription drugs and purchased in violation of regulations through online gray channels and offline pharmacies.
Source: Video Account
The prescribing and review of prescription drugs is a critical part of ensuring the safety of medications. However, in an online environment, it is often difficult to effectively control the prescribing and review of prescription drugs.
In addition, the phenomenon of unlicensed drug sales online is not uncommon. In January this year, among the 4th batch of typical cases of drug online sales violations disclosed by the State Food and Drug Administration, there were 7 cases of unlicensed drug operation, accounting for the largest proportion.
In 2022, a company sold the external drugs "Japan Jiuguang Patch" and "Japan VG Eczema Cream" on Pinduoduo's WeChat mini-program "Kuaituantuan" with the head account "Maojia Yanxuan", and the related products did not obtain drug approval documents, and the value of the goods involved was 2.7931 million yuan.
It can be seen that the qualification requirements for selling drugs online are very strict. For merchants who settle in third-party platforms, such as Taobao, Jingdong and other e-commerce platforms, they need to have corresponding drug business licenses.
At present, with the increasingly strict supervision of the industry, the relevant regulatory regulations are constantly strengthened. Major Internet platforms are also strengthening the supervision of drug sales.
Since last year, platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have made relevant governance announcements. For example, Douyin has successively launched Douyin Medical's announcements on the governance of MCN institutions' content chaos, medical violation diversion, medical and health certification accounts, medical certification rules, etc., to rectify various chaotic behaviors.
In this context, online drug sales merchants must strictly abide by relevant laws, regulations and platform regulations to ensure that their business practices are legal and compliant.
E-commerce platforms increase pharmaceutical e-commerce
Previously, according to the Guanyan report network, from 2018 to 2022, the market size of the mainland pharmaceutical e-commerce industry increased from 65.74 billion yuan to 252 billion yuan. It is estimated that the market size of the mainland pharmaceutical e-commerce industry will reach 285.2 billion yuan in 2023.
The penetration rate of the pharmaceutical e-commerce industry is still increasing, and there is a high room for growth. It is precisely because of the huge potential and market prospects of this industry that major platforms have joined the competition for pharmaceutical e-commerce.
Platforms such as Pharmacist, Dingdang Fast Medicine, JD Health, and Ali Health have all entered the pharmaceutical e-commerce market in different models. Among them, JD Health and Ali Health are mainly self-operated platforms, while Meituan and Ele.me are mainly platform models.
Nowadays, the continuous relaxation of the entry threshold for drug sales at the policy level has provided a strong impetus for Internet platforms to fully enter offline pharmacies, and the market competition has become more intense.
Just last year, Douyin Kuaishou made non-stop efforts to buy drugs online, and relaxed the minimum requirements for entry thresholds to attract more pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to settle in.
On the whole, the trend of offline pharmacies transforming to online is to adapt to changes in the market. However, this change has also brought with it some challenges and problems. Internet platforms need to strengthen the review and supervision of settled merchants to ensure that the drugs sold meet the relevant standards and regulations.
Author | Zhou Wenjun