Pilot Study of Internet Drug Availability, Pricing and Quality.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is the lead sponsor of a bill — The Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Bill — to allow importation of drugs from many countries, including via the internet. My recent research suggests Senator Dorgan is justified at least in terms of general safety. Although there is a wide variety in web site drug quality, my research team found that, with the exception of fake Viagra with packaging from China, none of the drugs failed our basic quality testing. However, in 20% of cases, a substitute drug was delivered, against requests for name-brand only, and these drugs could not be tested accurately, so there is certainly room for concern. But all the drugs we could test which we imported from Europe (and other locations Senator Dorgan’s bill will allow importation from) passed.