It is not more economical to buy drugs on the internet. In any case, this is the conclusion of the annual study on drug prices by the Familles Rurales association.
Since January 2, 2013, the Internet sale of non-prescription drugs has been authorized under certain conditions.
Rural Families therefore visited the 63 sites listed by the Ministry of Health. Drug prices were collected at 34 sites. “The prices charged are” mostly lower “than those of pharmacies, but in the end the drugs are not necessarily cheaper, because of the shipping costs and the great disparity in prices between the sites”, explains the association.
“Today, ordering on the internet is perhaps not the best choice”, summarized Thierry Damien, president of Familles Rurales.
Too high shipping costs
The shipping costs requested for sending a box of medicine to your home range from 3.99 to 9.95 €. On average, the fees charged amount to € 5.91. Sending to a relay reduces costs by around € 2.
Thierry Damien explains that “a large majority of sites offer to offer shipping costs for the purchase of a minimum amount of products purchased. This amount rises from 29.99 to 100 € with an average of 42.79 €. One can wonder about the validity of this proposal with the recommendation “of absence of incentive to the abusive consumption of drugs (art. R. 4235-64 of the code of the public health), even if the sites also sell drugstore products, but only a few sites clearly specify that one cannot buy more than one or more than 5 boxes of each of the drugs. “
The authors of the report conclude that “ordering on the Internet, even with free postage, and because of the disparity in prices (although even lower), is not necessarily cheaper than going to a physical pharmacy. . “
The Rural Families Drug Price Observatory, created in January 2010, records the prices of 14 frequently used products (12 drugs and 2 non-drug specialties), which can be sold without a prescription and in open access.
