Medicines and the internet

8 Journal of the Malta College of Pharmacy Practice Introduction The internet has become a major tool to empower patients since it became freely accessible to the public in 1997. Accessing medical information is one of the most common reasons for people to use the web. In addition a new e-commerce market has been created which has revolutionized the public’s access to goods globally.1 The internet pharmacy is a perfect example of the impact of increased access to healthcare goods offered by the newly created e-commerce market. Online pharmaceutical sales in the US alone, for example have grown from around 1% of the US pharmaceutical market to around 4% in 2007. A prime and vulnerable patient population, the elderly, use it extensively in the US to shop for cheaper prescription medicines where savings of up to 30% can be made.2 Many do so confident that their purchases offer the same quality and guarantees as those medicines bought in the pharmacy.7 The number of online pharmacies have expanded exponentially in the last 13yrs. Services and fees are often associated which Medicines and the internet