In recent times there have been instances of illegal sales of spurious drugs on various online portals. Reports suggest that many such portals have come into existence and are selling drugs which may be spurious or habit-forming. These issues have also highlighted the dangers of buying medicines online, as many websites selling medicines are not registered as pharmacies and have not been authorised by the government agencies and food and drug administrations of any state in the country. 

The unapproved prescription drugs sold through illegal online sales could be out of date, diluted, or fake, making them harmful to people's health. Although several measures have been taken by authorities to combat the sale of counterfeit and falsified medicines online, and thousands of fake online pharmacies have been shut down under various operations these practices continue in some form or the other. It is essential to know that in India import, manufacture, distribution, and sale of drugs are regulated by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and rules and are strictly regulated by the food and drug controller of each respective state. 

Misbranded drugs or spurious cosmetics are not allowed to be sold. In countries like the United States, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercept packages that were believed to contain fake or illicit drugs almost every day, some of these packets have been received from India and they have flagged this to the Indian government. Taking advantage of banned or prescription drugs in the US, people operate call centres and online pharmacies to take orders and then collect payments and ship them the packets of these drugs. The FDA has issued warning letters to online pharmacies offering for sale unapproved prescription drugs of unknown origin, but they continue to proliferate in some form or the other. 

A wrong or spurious drug in different doses can be life-threatening and have very serious ramifications on our health even leading to the death of anyone who consumes them.  Thus it is very crucial to exercise caution while buying medicines online and from those operating through call centres and buy them only from registered pharmacies and drug stores.