ComScore: Consumers Discount Safety For Drug Discounts

More than 17 million consumers living in the United States visited online pharmacy sites in the fourth quarter of 2004, according to a comScore report released Monday. The report, based on a survey of 315 consumers, defines online pharmacy sites as both traditional destinations, such as Walgreens.com, and nontraditional sites, which comScore defines as sites where consumers can buy drugs without a pre-existing prescription.

Almost half--45 percent--of those who visited pharmacy sites said they did so to comparison shop. comScore found "a significant percentage of pharmacy site visitors would consider buying drugs online that are not FDA approved." comScore also reported that 61 percent of buyers hadn't informed their regular doctor about online purchases. The company declined to state what percentage of shoppers actually made purchases online.

More respondents--66 percent--agreed with the statement that online pharmacies are providing healthy competition to regular pharmacies, than those who agreed that they were very concerned about the safety of drugs available online--54 percent.

What's more, just half of respondents agreed with the notion that the FDA should regulate all drugs that are consumed in the United States.

Only 33 percent of those surveyed said they were concerned by the lack of face-to-face communication with the pharmacist when purchasing drugs online; only half were concerned about the legality of their actions; and, alarmingly, only half expressed concern about receiving a prescription for the wrong drug or for the wrong dosage size when purchasing drugs online.

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