To the attention of the companies selling dietary supplements online

1

We want to draw your attention towards the fact that tthe Law regulating the sales of pharmaceutical drugs on the Internet, drafted by the Ministry of Health, is still under the State Duma's consideration.

Roszdravnadzor's employees and the law enforcement officers made a controlled buy on a website, e-pepper.ru reports. The revision implied ordering some drugs containing botulinum toxin, named "OTESALY BTXA" and " NEURONOX", that are used in cosmetology. They are not registered in Russia. At the delivery address, the couriers were waited for and arrested by the case officers. The criminal proceedings on an administrative offence were instituted, and the company, that delivers the drugs, got liable to a fine.

This is the first case of such sort in the trial practice. More than 60% of the phamaceutical drugs, bought on the non-official websites of online manufacturers or suppliers, prove to be counterfeit, Roszdravnadzor claims.

If the proposal for regulating pharmaceutical drug sales via the Internet gains the approval of the Duma's members, it will be possible to sell non-prescription medicines at distance through the courier delivery service. Still, online sales of the drugs that need a medical prescription, will remain prohibited.

It's curious that, on the one hand, the pharmacy chains are going online, opening e-commerce drugstores, thinking it can boost the sales volume. On the other hand, discussions on whether such way of selling is necessary and whether it will be demanded further. The experts consider some problems that may occur in case the Duma's decision on the law's approval is positive. Among the supposed difficulties, some points are stated: the lack of trained personnel (a courier making the delivery is supposed to have a degree in Pharmacy); high cost delivery; the people's unwillingness to betray their habbits, changing offline purchasing for online buying. As for the latter, there is another point of view, saying that today's generation has been chosen online purchases, and the further, the more goods will be bought online.

However, to date, online drug sales, including the BAAs, remain illegal.