Public perception toward e-commerce of medicines and comparative pharmaceutical quality assessment study of two different products of furosemide tablets from community and illicit online pharmacies

Abstract

This study showed that few consumers had considered purchasing pharmaceutical products from online sources as a feasible way to save money and time. However, most of them were in doubt about their quality, which encourages health-care providers to guide patients to government-supported websites if required. The study also showed that the quality of online medicines is questionable, indicating that these products are not equally effective as the medicines purchased from a local pharmacy.