Physical store required for online selling of health products —DTI, DOH

The online selling of drugs, supplies, and food supplements is not allowed without a physical store, trade and health officials reminded the public on Tuesday.

“Unless you have a license to operate a physical drugstore, hindi ka pwedeng magbenta (you cannot sell) online, whether food supplement or essential drugs,” Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said in a Department of Health (DOH) forum.

Dr. Melissa Guerrero of the DOH Health Technology Assessment Unit added that drugstores must have trained pharmacists in order to secure a license to operate from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

She said this was to avoid possible dangers involved in buying health products from online stores that do not have pharmacists who can properly advise and dispense drugs to consumers.

“Halimbawa ako, as an individual seller, marami akong supply. Gusto ko ibenta online (For example, I want to sell my supplies online). I do not have the license to operate. I am violating FDA laws so hindi ko pwedeng gawin ‘yun (I cannot do that),” Castelo explained.

Guerrero said the FDA has “criminal sanctions” for those who sell health products online without a facility that meets standards and trained medical professionals.

Castelo also said the DTI has received over 4,000 consumer complaints involving online transactions, including the sale of drugs, as of May 28.

Aside from forwarding such complaints to the FDA, the DTI also requests online platforms like Facebook to remove sellers involved, since unregistered sellers of health products “proliferate” on Facebook Marketplace.

“Thankfully, ang online platforms naman cooperate with the DTI kapag may mga ganyan tayong requests, sumusunod naman sila (Online platforms cooperate with the DTI when we make these requests),” Castelo said.

“We also issue advisories reminding consumers not to buy medicine online, especially kung makita nila na walang license to operate naman ‘yung nagbebenta (if they see that the seller does not have a license to operate),” she added.

In 2019, the FDA ordered online shopping platforms Shopee and Lazada to stop selling medicines online.—AOL, GMA News