Two new categories have been added to the list of prohibited online drugs, and there are still people "purchasing" hospital preparations?

Medical institution preparations and traditional Chinese medicine formula granules are to be banned from online sales Our reporter found out in an investigation

There are still people selling "internal medicine" under the banner of "daigou"

The website of the State Food and Drug Administration recently released the "Prohibited List of Online Sales of Drugs (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comments"), which intends to include preparations from medical institutions and granules of traditional Chinese medicine formulas in the prohibited list
of online sales.
However, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily noted on November 8 that there are still some online stores selling "hospital preparations" from some well-known hospitals in the name of "purchasing agents", and some of them sell more than
100 orders per month.

Two new categories have been added to the list of prohibited online drugs

A few days ago, the State Food and Drug Administration solicited comments
on the "Prohibited List of Online Sales of Drugs (Draft for Comments)".
The Beiqing Daily reporter learned that the consultation draft divides the online ban list into two categories
: "drugs that are clearly prohibited by policies and regulations" and "other drugs prohibited from online retail".
Including medical institution preparations, traditional Chinese medicine formula granules and injections (except hypoglycemic drugs), as well as digoxin, disopyramide, quinidine and other varieties
with high drug risk.

The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned that according to the "Drug Administration Law" implemented in December 2019, vaccines, blood products, narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, toxic drugs for medical use, radioactive drugs, pharmaceutical precursor chemicals, etc.
have been banned from online sales, and the new ones are mainly medical institution preparations and traditional Chinese medicine formula granules
.

There are still people "buying" in-hospital preparations

The Beiqing Daily reporter learned that the so-called medical institution preparations, also known as "hospital preparations" or "internal medicines", refer to fixed prescription preparations routinely prepared and used by medical institutions according to their clinical needs, and have not been officially approved to supply the market
.

In Beijing, many hospital preparations have become "star drugs"
in some well-known hospitals.
Such as Beijing Hospital's internal medicine vitamin E milk, 301 Hospital's compound cod liver oil nasal drops, Concord's silicone cream, brown ammonium mixture, milk nucleus flat granules, Beijing Third Hospital Rhinitis No.
3, Xiyuan Hospital's compound jujube kernel cream skin cream, throat cleansing mixture, trauma cream, Children's Research Institute's skin cream, silicone cream No.
1, double yellow wet lotion, etc
.

Most of these in-hospital preparations require a doctor's prescription before they can be purchased in the hospital pharmacy, and they are limited to our hospital
.
Although some hospitals have developed cosmetic products with certain effects on in-hospital preparations such as vitamin E milk and silicone cream, some of them are only sold
in hospitals or designated businesses.
And there are not many ways to buy "star drugs" for this part of the hospital preparations, and even a purchasing cattle industry
has emerged.

Although the official has planned to list hospital preparations as "banned drugs on the Internet", the reporter of Beiqing Daily saw on some e-commerce platforms and second-hand platforms that some hospital purchasing is still active
.
Among them, on an e-commerce platform, some sellers simply used "Beijing Children's Research Institute Skin Cream Purchasing" as the store name, while some sellers purchased a well-known topical application of hospital preparations with monthly sales of more than
100 orders.
There are also netizens who share their experience
on social media on how to buy in-hospital preparations from some well-known hospitals in Beijing through online consultation.

However, some insiders said that even some skin topical hospital preparations are prescription drugs, and there are certain risks
in using drugs without authorization without doctor's consultation.
However, there are also views that it is recommended that drugs be managed graded, and for some nosocomial preparations that are used externally and the risk factor of medication is not very high, conditional release
can be considered.

Online sales of in-hospital preparations have been suspended

In fact, for the sale of hospital preparations through the Internet, a "star drug" had been stopped online sales
in advance.

In June this year, the Comprehensive Department of the State Food and Drug Administration and the General Office of the National Health Commission jointly issued the Notice on Matters Related to the Preparation of Low-concentration Atropine Sulfate Ophthalmic Medical Institutions, mentioning that medical institutions are not allowed to issue prescriptions and dispenses
for this product through Internet diagnosis and treatment.
After the issuance of the "Notice", in late July this year, Shenyang Xingqi Eye Hospital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xingqi Eye Medicine, announced that the hospital's Internet hospital suspended the prescription of 0.
01% atropine sulfate eye drops for in-hospital preparations, and patients can go to the physical hospital of Xingqi Eye Hospital to issue prescriptions
if necessary.
Previously, Xingqi Eye Medicine won the registration approval of 0.
01% atropine eye drops medical institutions in January 2019, becoming the first in the
industry.
In addition, He's Ophthalmology and OPCOM Vision have also announced that the sales of low-concentration atropine eye drops in Internet hospitals have been suspended, and patients need to purchase
them with prescriptions when they visit the hospital.

The ban on online sales of Chinese medicine formula granules has little impact

Not only hospital preparations, but also another type of Chinese medicine formula granules that are to be banned from online sale have also been required
before.

Chinese medicine formula granules are granules
made by extracting and concentrating Chinese medicine pieces according to traditional standards for clinical formulations of traditional Chinese medicine.
Some pharmaceutical companies believe that the ban on online sales of Chinese medicine formula granules has little impact on the market
.
Because Chinese medicine formula granules are prescription drugs, they can only be prescribed according to the doctor's advice, and the cold medicine granules that are usually drunk belong to the punch and are proprietary Chinese medicines
.

In February last year, the "Announcement of the State Food and Drug Administration, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the National Health Commission, and the National Medical Insurance Bureau on the End of the Pilot Work of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Granules also clarified that Chinese medicine formula granules cannot be sold
outside medical institutions.
In November last year, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly issued the Notice on Standardizing the Clinical Use of Chinese Medicine Formula Granules in Medical Institutions, which clarified that medical institutions that can provide Chinese medicine services can only use Chinese medicine formula granules
after approval or filing.
Public medical institutions using Chinese medicine formula granules must not contract or rent pharmacies, and must not host pharmacies
to for-profit enterprises.

Text / Reporter Zhang Xin

Co-ordinator / Yu Meiying