The danger of using fake or low-quality drugs is something that cannot be underestimated. While it’s always unpleasant to buy a faulty product regardless of its purpose, consuming fake medications or those not produced according to safety standards can be fatal. For this reason, it’s essential to always be careful and discerning when buying any drugs, whether they are labeled as branded or generic.
Fake drugs – more common than ever
With the appearance of modern technologies and ease of establishing online drugstores, it is now more important than ever to be able to distinguish low-quality drugs from those that cannot be trusted. As a consumer, you need to know what to look for when purchasing drugs and also understand how to properly assess them once they are delivered to your home.
Always perform a visual check
You can never be too careful when it comes to your health and performing a visual check of your drugs is always a great idea. It is especially important to do so if you order drugs for the first time from a certain pharmacy. Whether you know exactly how packaging and product should look or not, there are a number of things you can look out for when your drugs arrive.
With the help of several simple steps, you can significantly minimize your chances of consuming unreliable medications:
- Take a careful look at the primary packaging
If you know how drugs should look, check for any suspicious changes in the appearance of the packaging, as this can be a sign of fraudulent activity. At the same time, it could be that a manufacturer decided to change the packaging. In this case, you would be able to find information about such changes online.
You should assess the packaging and pay attention to any spelling mistakes, strange fonts, and any irregularities in font sizes and also print problems. Such errors can indicate that these drugs were created in an unprofessional setting.
Next, you should see if the packaging is clean and not damaged. There shouldn’t be any tears and it shouldn’t look as if it has been previously opened. All seals on the bottles should be intact and the packaging should be securely closed. It may happen that the drug gets damaged during shipping but it is better to avoid taking drugs that have any problems with the packaging.
- Check manufacturer’s information
Manufacturer’s information should be present on any medication that you buy. There should be a specific address that you can easily find online. If you see only the name of the country or city, it’s more than likely that this drug is fake.
- Compare primary and secondary packaging
Another step you should take is to compare the information provided on the primary packaging to that on the secondary one. All the details, such as the name of the drug, batch number, and expiration date should be the same. If you notice that there are any differences, you should not take this medication. There should also be a standard leaflet explaining how to take this drug, its contraindications, precautions, and other essential details.
- Assess the actual medication (tablets, gel, liquid, etc.)
Various physical defects can occur in medication dues to their improper storage. Also, in some instances, such problems may signal that a drug is of low-quality or completely fake. In any case, you should carefully examine the product before consumption:
- Make sure that the drug is consistent in its color, size of tablets, and the liquid doesn’t have any irregularities.
- There shouldn’t be any cracks, discoloration, swelling, or other visible issues in tablets and capsules.
- There shouldn’t be any loose product in the container (spills of liquids, powder, etc.)
- If you have previously purchased the exact drug, you can compare the product to what you remember.
- Make sure that there is no formation of crystals on the tablets and container walls.
The problems with the actual product can often occur due to inappropriate storage conditions. Regardless of whether the drug is fake or it simply got expired, you should avoid consuming medications that look suspicious in any way.
Learn about the differences between generics and brand drugs
When it comes to finding great quality generic drugs, it can be more difficult to see whether the drug is safe and of high-quality. The reason is that generic drugs should differ in their design, name, and appearance of the actual product from the branded ones. It is a legal requirement and not just a whim of manufacturers. For this reason, when you order a generic and it looks nothing like a branded drug you are used to, this is not always a sign of its low quality.
If you are used to taking branded pills and decide to buy a generic, you should expect the drug to look different. Because of such peculiarity of generics, it is best to find how this generic drug is supposed to look and then compare the obtained product to the description and photos online.
Reasonable pricing of generic drugs
Another factor that can help you determine whether the drug is not fake is its price. While generic drugs are cheaper compared to their branded counterparts, they should never be extremely cheap. You can easily browse through popular pharmacies starting from Apppharma.com and compare the prices. The prices can differ from one drugstore to another but the difference is never huge, for example, when scrolling down the prices for Generic Viagra, $0.35 cost per pill has been found with Rockwoodclinic.com, or else, there is affordable assortment from similar services, just make sure you check the per pill vs. package price.
If a drug has an unreasonably low price, it is more than likely a fake one or it was created without adhering to safety requirements. Unfortunately, pricing is not always an indication of a fake product, as low-quality drugs are often sold at normal or even high prices.
Choosing a trustworthy pharmacy – your best strategy
One of the most reliable ways to buy high-quality generics is by choosing a reputable online pharmacy. A great online drugstore should have numerous positive reviews, years of experience, and sell only certified products that come directly from official manufacturers. There are a number of pharmacies out there that have proven their professionalism and excellent worth ethics.
Some of the popular pharmacies online include:
- Healthwarehouse
- My Canadian Pharmacy
- Northwest Pharmacy
- Canadian Pharmacy World
- Lloyds Pharmacy
This is a short list of reliable drugstores but there are many others that offer both generic and branded drugs.
When choosing medications online, it is best to use all of the mentioned recommendations in combination to be confident in the quality of your ordered products. Regardless of whether you buy drugs online or offline, it should be your priority to check your medications before consumption. By finding a reliable pharmacy and sticking to it, you make sure that your treatments always go as planned and you don’t get any unpleasant surprises.
Read also: Why Do Local Drugstores Call Generic Drug Bought in Canadian Pharmacies Counterfeit?