Online Pharmacies Research Articles

A Comparative Expected Value Analysis Study to Determine the Cost Benefit or Cost Effectiveness of Early Discharge, Medical Transport, Home Health as Well as Home Care Devices, Services and Technologies in The United States

It was found that Amazon products (Alexa™, Echo™, Halo™), EMRs, fire extinguishers, genome sequencing test, on-line pharmacies, remote patient monitoring, provided economic value, while emergency medical service membership programs, fire alarm subscription services, helicopter emergency medical services, home fire insurance policies, home fire sprinklers, and home security systems were not found to have provided economic value. Tele-health (virtual office visits) would provide economic value if most tele-health visits replaced existing in-person visits and the low cost virtual didn’t drive demand for unnecessary visits. Robotic surgery technologies provide economic value if fully utilized (high patient demand to reduce overhead costs per procedure) in a facility with little excess capacity as long as it did not compete with non-robotic surgical offerings at the present facility. AEDs provide economic value if appropriately placed in high demand locales based on future probability of use.

Studying consumer experience of purchasing medicines at the present stage

Modern services for searching and purchasing medicines have a variety of capabilities that make the Internet service convenient to use [1, 2]. It is noted that during the pandemic, consumers of online pharmacies began to use the drug delivery service more often, which prompted the active development of this area. In the post-pandemic period, the upward trend in the use of online pharmacies has continued, however, a significant proportion of consumers still prefer pickup from a conventional point of sale when ordering via digital technologies. The authors' research describes various consumer experiences of purchasing medicines in order to predict the creation of Internet services in the pharmacy segment of the pharmaceutical market.

Exploring the Knowledge and Practices of Adverse Drug Reaction and Falsified Medicine Reporting Amongst the Community Pharmacists of India

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and falsified medicines (FMs) pose significant threat to patient safety and public health. Understanding the knowledge, experiences, and perspectives of community pharmacists in India regarding ADRs and FMs is crucial for effective intervention and prevention strategies.
 Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, experiences, and perspectives of community pharmacists in India regarding ADRs and FMs. It sought to gather information on pharmacists' familiarity with the threats posed by ADRs and FMs, their understanding of relevant legislation, their personal encounters with ADRs and FMs, and their views on the distribution of FMs and the adequacy of existing legislation.
 Method: A survey was conducted among community pharmacists in India, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The survey included questions related to knowledge, experiences, and perspectives on ADRs and FMs. The responses were analysed to identify trends and key findings.
 Results: The analysis revealed that a significant majority of pharmacists demonstrated a fundamental understanding of ADRs and FMs. However, a relatively low percentage reported encountering ADRs as well as FMs in their practice, with an equally low proportion reporting these incidents to the appropriate authorities Majority of pharmacists believed that they plan an important role in reporting of ADRs but only half of the pharmacists’ surveyed things that they plan an important role in tackling the issue of FMs.
 Conclusion: The research highlights that community pharmacists in India have a good understanding of Pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting, although knowledge of Indian legislation needs improvement. Pharmacists demonstrate a positive attitude towards ADR reporting and promptly report encountered ADRs and FMs. Patient education, convenience of the reporting system, and strengthening FM legislation are areas that require attention. Major sources of FM distribution are online pharmacies and street hawkers. These findings contribute to enhancing pharmacovigilance practices and addressing FM distribution in India.

The digital presence of the leading brands in the category of Food for Special Medical Purposes

Abstract ObjectiveFood for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP) is a niche area in the food and healthcare industries that produces foods to meet the dietary requirements of people with specific medical conditions. These products provide specific nutrient amounts and ratios, which can be used as a supplement to a conventional diet, part of an entire medical treatment plan, or as a sole source of Nutrition. The market is expected to generate revenues of $19.67 billion in 2028. Most FSMPs products are purchased individually by patients or caregivers. Although these products are not advertised directly to the public might be bought online from pharmacies and other online shops. This research aims to evaluate the online presence of the most important brands within the FSMPs category and how the patients get to the online shops without direct-to-consumer advertisement. Methods:This exploratory qualitative research study examines the online presence of FSMP products and key brands using SEO as the main digital technique. Data sources included Romanian websites, Google SERPs, Brandmentions.com, Semrush, and Ubersuggest. Results: The findings showed that these websites received only a small amount of direct traffic, with only a few hundred monthly visits. To increase organic visibility, businesses must follow regulatory requirements, collaborate with medical experts, engage with potential clients, and exhibit their products at medical events and fairs. Content marketing is crucial for FSMP brands to engage with their target audience and deliver valuable information. Conclusions: FSMP brands cannot advertise directly to consumers. Instead, they should focus on SEO, reputable online pharmacies, e-commerce shops, and content marketing. This research applies to FSMP brands, digital marketers, and online pharmacies to effectively connect with target demographics, promote products, navigate regulatory constraints, and enhance online presence, improving accessibility and awareness.

Pharmaco-disparities in heart failure: a survey of the affordability of guideline recommended therapy in 10 countries.

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is treatable but guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) may not be affordable or accessible to people living with the disease. In this cross-sectional survey, we investigated the price, affordability, and accessibility of four pivotal classes of HFrEF GDMT: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) or angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI); beta-blockers; mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA); and sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i). We sampled online or community pharmacies in 10 countries across a range of World Bank income groups, assessing mean 30day retail prescription prices, affordability relative to gross national income per capita per month, and accessibility. We reported median price ratios relative to the International Reference Standard. We performed a literature review to evaluate accessibility to GDMT classes through publicly funded drug programmes in each country. HFrEF GDMT prices, both absolute and relative to the international reference, were highest in the United States and lowest in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The most expensive drug was the ARNI, sacubitril/valsartan, with a mean (standard deviation, SD) 30day price ranging from $11.06 (0.81) in Pakistan to $611.50 (3.54) in United States. The least expensive drug was the MRA, spironolactone, with a mean (SD) 30day price ranging from $0.18 (0.00) in Pakistan to $12.32 (0.00) in England. Affordability (SD) of quadruple therapy-ARNI, beta-blockers, MRA, and SGLT2i-was best in high-income and worst in low-income countries, ranging from 1.49 (0.00)% of gross national income per capita per month in England to 232.47 (31.47)% in Uganda. Publicly funded drug programmes offset costs for eligible patients, but ARNI and SGLT2i were inaccessible through these programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Price, affordability, and accesswere substantially improved in all countries by substituting ARNI for ACEi/ARB. There was marked variation between countries in the retail price of HFrEF GDMT. Despite higher prices in high-income countries, GDMT was more accessible and affordable than in low- and middle-income countries. Publicly funded drug programmes in lower income countries increased affordability but limited access to newer HFrEF GDMT classes. Pharmaco-disparities must be addressed to improve HFrEF outcomes globally.

Leveraging the E-commerce footprint for the surveillance of healthcare utilization.

The utilization of healthcare services serves as a barometer for current and future health outcomes. Even in countries with modern healthcare IT infrastructure, however, fragmentation and interoperability issues hinder the (short-term) monitoring of utilization, forcing policymakers to rely on secondary data sources, such as surveys. This deficiency may be particularly problematic during public health crises, when ensuring proper and timely access to healthcare acquires special importance. We show that, in specific contexts, online pharmacies' digital footprint data may contain a strong signal of healthcare utilization. As such, online pharmacy data may enable utilization surveillance, i.e., the monitoring of short-term changes in utilization levels in the population. Our analysis takes advantage of the scenario created by the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Mainland China, where the virus' spread lead to pervasive and deep reductions of healthcare service utilization. Relying on a large sample of online pharmacy transactions with full national coverage, we first detect variation that is strongly consistent with utilization reductions across geographies and over time. We then validate our claims by contrasting online pharmacy variation against credit-card transactions for medical services. Using machine learning methods, we show that incorporating online pharmacy data into the models significantly improves the accuracy of utilization surveillance estimates.

Comparative analysis of modern digital services for the purchase of medicines

Currently, the online pharmacy market is represented by a number of large pharmaceutical players, including apteka.ru, eapteka.ru, and ozon.ru. Given the high density of the market, as well as the fact that medicines are commodities, it becomes obvious that the pharmacy brand needs to increase its competitiveness. Today, such factors are essential for the client of online pharmacies as: the ability to choose the best price offer, the availability of a large range of products, convenient search and comparison of drugs in various categories, as well as the possibility of delivery and customer pickup. Modern services for the search and purchase of medicines have a variety of capabilities that allow making the Internet service convenient for use, as well as to increase the competitive advantages of the pharmacy brand. Thus, the modern online pharmacy consumer is guided by a service (brand) that will satisfy his or her needs, including the use of cartographic services for a comfortable search.

A Comprehensive Review of E-service Quality and Comparative Study Between Online Pharmacies in India: 1mg and PharmEasy

E-pharmacies have become the latest trend all over the world, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2019. While buying online, along with the products/medicines in case of e-pharmacies, people also expect a user-friendly website, prompt and safe delivery, data and payment security, and convenient customer services. Hence, e-pharmacy organizations should satisfy all these factors to be the best in the market, enhance customer experience, and increase customer’s repurchasing intentions. The objective of this research is to compare the e-service quality between two of the top e-pharmacies in India—Tata 1mg and API Holdings Private Limited’s PharmEasy—using the e-service quality hierarchical model developed by Blut (2016). E-service quality is evaluated and compared using the following dimensions: website/application design, customer service, security/privacy, fulfillment, and overall e-service quality from the consumer’s perspective. Findings of the study reveal that there was no significant difference in the quality of dimensions—website design and customer service between 1mg and PharmEasy—while there is a significant difference in the quality of fulfillment, security/privacy, and overall e-service quality between 1mg and PharmEasy.

Intelligent medication manager: developing and implementing a mobile application based on WeChat.

Background: Time and space constraints have often hindered the provision of optimal pharmaceutical care, limiting medication therapy management. Social media tools have gained significant popularity in the field of pharmaceutical care. This study aimed to develop a WeChat-based intelligent medication manager platform that facilitates online pharmaceutical care and encourages self-management. Methods: We developed a WeChat-based Internet pharmacy service platform called Xiang Medicine Guidance (XMG). Through the analysis of surveys and user access data, we evaluated the demand and utilization of the XMG platform and assessed patients' satisfaction with its services. Patients' adherence before and after the XMG platform intervention was also investigated. Results: The XMG platform was launched in November 2022, offering medication guidance, reminders, and consultation services through the WeChat mini-program. By the end of April 2023, the platform had attracted 141.2 thousand users, accumulating 571.0 thousand visits. Moreover, 1,183 clients sought online medication consultations during this period. Six months after the launch of XMG, an impressive 91.02% of users expressed their satisfaction with the platform. The medication reminders and consultations provided by XMG significantly contributed to medication adherence, with 56.02% of users categorized as having good adherence, better than the previous 47.26%. Conclusion: Through its services and features, XMG empowers patients to better manage their medications, seek professional advice, and adhere to their prescribed treatment plans. XMG has the potential to positively impact public health on a broader scale.

Drug Counterfeiting: Key Factors Affecting Vulnerable People in the World

Drug counterfeiting has been a major problem for the government and regulatory agencies since the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the drug counterfeiting reported is in countries where a high demand for drugs combines with poor surveillance, quality control, regulation, and education to make it easy for criminals and cartels to supply it to the market through illegal sources. These fake medications are frequently produced in hazardous conditions, with insufficient, excess, or no active ingredients, and/or by using potentially harmful and even fatal chemicals. Counterfeit drugs mostly affect vulnerable sections of society due to their social and economic conditions. Some critical factors, such as insufficient or no health insurance coverage, disparities with racial and ethnic minorities, government policies, low income, lack of education, and uncontrolled online pharmacies, tend to attract them towards counterfeit drugs. This article explains the key risk factors of counterfeit drugs operating in legal environments and reviews recent adverse cases in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Pharmacoeconomic analysis of Oral & Injectable Proton Pump Inhibitors available in India

Introduction: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) effectively suppress acid secretion and play an essential role in peptic ulcer disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease. There is a genuine concern about overutilizing PPIs, leading to significantly high costs and undesirable outcomes. An increase in the patient medication cost was associated with decreased adherence to prescription medication. Hence, this study assessed the cost variation of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) drugs.
 Methods: The cost of different brands of commonly used PPIs was sorted out by referring latest “Monthly Index of Medical Specialties” October – December 2021, and 1mg online pharmacy. The cost of 10 dosage forms (Tablets/capsules) in INR of each brand, Cost Ratio, and Percentage Cost Variation for individual drug brands was calculated in the case of an oral drug, and the cost of one vial or ampoule was noted in the case of injectable drug. At last, the cost ratio and percentage cost variation of various brands was compared.
 Results: The data analysis showed a significant variation in the costs of different brands of proton pump inhibitors available In the Indian market. Percentage variation in cost for oral preparations of proton pump inhibitors marketed in India was found to be tablet/capsule Rabeprazole 20mg (1540%), Omeprazole 20 mg(718.18%), Pantoprazole 40mg (504.16%), Esomeprazole 20mg (173.68%), Lansoprazole 15 mg (84.90 %), Omeprazole 40 mg (60.34%) and with injectable preparations IVR abeprazole 20mg (1090.90%), Omeprazole 40 mg (347.36%), Esomeprazole 40mg (216.66%), Pantoprazole 20mg (164.44 %), Pantoprazole 40mg (51.16%).
 Conclusion: There is a wide variation in the prices of proton pump inhibitors available in the market. Regulatory authorities, pharma companies, and physicians should maximize their efforts to reduce the cost of drugsThe need to search for reliable process indicators for the effectiveness of anti-diabetic therapy has been expressed in the literature. Process indicators have been described as essential processes that contribute to achieving outcomes

Prescribed stimulant medications: Trends in the last decade, pre and post COVID-19 response

BackgroundRecent studies indicate that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on access and continuity to opioid and benzodiazepine medications; little is known about its effect on access to and utilization of stimulant medications. ObjectiveTo investigate trends of dispensed stimulant medications in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic response. MethodsStimulant prescriptions dispensed during 2011–2021 were analyzed using the Massachusetts Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), the state's data repository for all controlled substance medications dispensed to residents from retail pharmacies and out of state mail-order pharmacies. Statewide trends were estimated by age group, sex, and stimulant-naïve patients (individuals with no stimulant prescription in the prior one-year period). ResultsOverall, stimulant prescriptions increased 70% from 2011 to 2021. Wide differences by sex and age groups were found pre and post COVID response periods. Between 2019 and 2021, stimulant prescriptions for males 12–18 years old decreased 14.6% compared to 0.9% for females. Female stimulant-naïve patients ages 25–34 increased more than males between 2019 and 2021 (11.6% compared to <1%, respectively) and females ages 35–44 increased 4.1% while males decreased by 2.7%. ConclusionsAdministrators, clinicians, and policy makers should closely monitor stimulant prescribing trends, a critical step in improving access to and quality of care.

A Cyber Secure Medical Management System by Using Blockchain

In the pharmaceutical industry, problems like counterfeit drugs, including vaccines, and their supply chain management problems like transparency, immutability, and traceability exist. In the case of vaccines, it becomes more difficult to standardize and detect fake vaccines because the public has less awareness and knowledge about vaccines. Moreover, the increase in online pharmacies gives more opportunities for counterfeiting vaccines to enter the authentic supply chain management system. We present transparent, immutable and secure vaccine supply chain (TISVSchain), a framework based on blockchain to handle the issues of counterfeited vaccines and vaccine supply chain problems like transparency, immutability, and traceability. Our proposed framework can run both on the private and public blockchain. We have implemented the framework on public blockchain by using remix ide and the smart contracts designed by solidity language run on very low gas cost. We also carried out several experiments by changing the number of nodes and their block time to evaluate the performance of our framework in terms of transaction per second (TPS), gas cost, and propagation delay. Our proposed framework improves the security by using offline unique account addresses in blockchain-based frameworks and improves the overall efficiency of the framework by keeping the gas cost low, finding a way to decrease the number of lost blocks to keep low propagation delay, and keeping high TPS value. TISVSchain shows us promising results to improve vaccine supply chain management’s overall performance, security, and efficiency.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Self-Medication among Medical Students of Women Medical and Dental College, Abbottabad

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in Women Medical &amp; Dental College students in all professional years of MBBS to evaluate the tendency towards self-medication practices and the background knowledge of the students about self-medication. A predesigned questionnaire was implemented among two hundred students by simple random sampling. Data were analyzed by SPSS-23 version through descriptive statistics, spearman correlation and binomial logistic regressions. The study's findings indicate that analgesics are the most frequently used self-medication, with antibiotics coming in second. Self-medication awareness was most commonly conveyed through family members and friends (65%), media (20%), books (10%) and miscellaneous (5 %). Self-medication was practiced mostly by 1st and 4th year MBBS students, with a higher frequency of (65%) while only 35 % students were from 2nd, 3rd and final year MBBS. Adverse effects were: marked headache (40%), GIT disturbances (35%), sleep disturbances (15%) and miscellaneous (10%). Analgesics were available from online drug stores, while muscle relaxants were available through local pharmacies, anxiolytics and antibiotics were mostly received through friends and family, miscellaneous medicines are only available from online pharmacies. Pearson correlation was significant at the 0.0 level and two-tailed at 0.05 level, knowledge of self-medication shows a positive correlation towards the side effects observed and adverse effects. Students below 21 years of age and above 23 years of age were very less vulnerable to using self-medication. Over burning academic activities and easy availability were the most triggering factors to adopt self-medication. Students need health education regarding the pros and cons of self-medication from teachers and administration.

Improving Student Matriculation and Retention in an Online Pharmacy Pathway

Improving Student Matriculation and Retention in an Online Pharmacy Pathway

Antibiotics online: digital pharmacy marketplaces and pastiche medicine

The internet enables access to information and the purchasing of medical products of various quality and legality. Research and regulatory attention have focused on the trafficking of illicit substances, potential...

Interactive bundle pricing strategy for online pharmacies

Online retail pharmacies usually price their products differently from traditional drugstores. Based on real-time consumer behaviors, this paper proposes a dynamic bundle pricing strategy to maximize the pharmacy’s profit. Given free shipping thresholds and consumer budgets, we propose a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model and a heuristic to sequentially price customized bundles. We further conduct a numerical study using the data from a leading e-pharmacy in China. Our computational results indicate that the proposed model not only improves the e-pharmacy’s profit by attracting more customers but noticeably contributes to consumer surplus. Through sensitivity analysis, our model is proved to be robust under various scenarios.

Pharmacy student knowledge of online pharmacy use and the impact of education

Pharmacy student knowledge of online pharmacy use and the impact of education

Impact of an online pharmacy precepting-focused continuing professional development program

IntroductionThis study aimed to determine the preceptor-reported impact of an online continuing professional development (CPD) program on pharmacy preceptors' abilities and techniques for teaching students in clinical settings. MethodsIn 2017, an online program to educate and support pharmacy preceptors' use of CPD to create individualized clinical teaching development plans was launched. After allowing time for preceptors to implement their CPD plan, a follow-up program was launched in 2019 where preceptors completed a seven-question survey to assess their impact on clinical teaching from the initial program. Two questions described completion of the CPD plan with response options including “Yes,” “No,” or “Partially”. Five open-ended questions allowed for descriptions of changes implemented and overall teaching impact. Impact of implemented changes were categorized as positive, negative, or no change. Changes implemented by preceptors were categorized as goal setting, feedback, communication/education skills, student-teacher connection, or educational resources development. ResultsOf the 119 preceptors who responded to at least one question, 52% fully implemented and 39% partially implemented their pre-identified CPD plan. A total of 75 preceptors provided responses regarding impact of implemented activities; 69 (92%) were coded as a positive impact on their clinical teaching. Preceptor skill development was most commonly in communication/educational skills (45%), student/teacher connection (33%), and educational resources development (33%). ConclusionsThis online precepting CPD program had a positive preceptor-reported impact on clinical teaching delivered by preceptors to students. Further investigation is warranted to disseminate this program.

The Effect of E-Service Quality and E-Perceived Value on E-Customer Loyalty with E-Convenience as a Mediating Variable

At this time the digital pharmacy industry is experiencing very rapid development, this can be seen from the increase in online pharmacy applications. Kimia Farma Mobile is one of the online pharmacy applications that is widely discussed in various pharmaceutical industries, besides that Kimia Farma Mobile was able to reach more than 900,000 users with a 4-star rating and also occupied the third position in the list of health applications in Indonesia in July 2022. This study aims to examine the effect of e-service quality and e-perceived value on e-customer loyalty with e-convenience as a mediating variable. This study uses quantitative research methods. Respondents in this study were Kimia Farma Mobile customers who had made transactions more than once. This study obtained 201 samples distributed via Whatsapp messages to customers. The data in this study were analyzed using SEM-PLS through the SmartPLS 3 program. The results of this study indicate that all hypotheses are accepted and significant, but e-service quality is not significant to e-customer loyalty.