インターネットオークションにおける無承認無許可医薬品の出品実態

抄録

In Japan, purchasing drugs via Internet auction is prohibited by law. The aim of the present study was to clarify the current status of unapproved drug transactions via Internet auction in Japan. We created five sets of keywords corresponding to five therapeutic categories, ie, hair growth, gastrointestinal treatment, skin care, anti-aging therapy, and anti-cancer therapy. The searches were first performed on the website “Yahoo-oku” (Yahoo auction, Japan) using the above sets of keywords within five days, followed by secondary searches in the same manner after a forty-day interval. The searched items together with their explanations were evaluated independently by two researchers to determine whether they were illegal. The illegal items in the anti-cancer category were further monitored after submitting violation reports to the website. In two search phases within five days each, 571 and 581 illegal items were identified, respectively. After submission of the violation reports, only 1.1％ and 3.4％ of the items in the anti-cancer category were withdrawn by the site administrator and seller, respectively, and 38％ of the monitored items were sold. Taken together, unapproved drug transactions via the Internet are a serious problem. The government and site administrators may need to take effective measures to monitor and avoid such transactions, as well as providing notices and education to customers.