Libby Baney Discusses Illegal Online Pharmacies Exploiting Drug Shortages With Fox Business

In “Illegal Online Pharmacies Exploit Drug Shortages,” Fox Business spoke to government and regulatory partner and senior advisor to the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies Libby Baney about illegal online pharmacies exploiting the surge of consumers turning to the internet to buy medicine that may be in short supply at their local pharmacies.

According to Baney, in recent years, U.S. consumers have increasingly turned to the internet to seek health care and buy prescription drugs because of perceived cost savings and convenience, especially during the pandemic when people were confined to their homes. What most Americans don’t know is that “95% of online drug sellers are operating illegally, selling sometimes counterfeit, misbranded, [or] substandard drugs outside the regulated supply chain,” Baney explained.

It shouldn’t be on the consumer “to find the needle in the 95% haystack,” said Baney, who noted that if people need a drug and can’t obtain it through traditional means, they’re going to look for alternative resources like the internet. The difference between using safe and regulated medicine and unregulated medicine “can cost you your life or your health,” Baney added. “You just don’t know what you’re going to get if you buy outside the regulated supply chain.”

Regarding the Drug Enforcement Administration’s recent report on the rise of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills, Baney urged consumers to verify if an online pharmacy is legal. “They’re not selling from a licensed pharmacy. They’re not selling FDA-approved medicines. They’re willing to break the law. In that case, you don’t know what’s in those products,” she said.