Bethesda, Md—To try to control increasing use of the Internet for obtaining prescription drugs without adequate physician oversight, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has called on physicians and pharmacists for help.
The agency views obtaining prescription drugs without the personal interaction of patient and physician as a significant problem but believes that it is one better handled by state licensing and medical boards than by the FDA.
The boards are willing to do their part—at press time, three had taken disciplinary action against three physicians who had prescribed Viagra over the Internet to men who were not their patients—but have not yet taken a formal position on the issue.
The use of the Internet for prescribing drugs, while legal, is open to questionable practices. For example, a Chicago television station recently aired a program on which a man received Viagra through an Internet pharmacy despite listing . . . [Full Text of this Article]
