The FDA BeSafeRx Interactive Map Tool has consumers excited and media sources abuzz. Buying medications online can bring cost savings and discretion, but many online pharmacies are rogue and illegitimate. Now consumers have an easy-to-use, powerful map tool to check whether an online pharmacy is safe and legitimate before they buy.

Many online pharmacy scams are so sophisticated that even health care professionals can have a hard time detecting illegal sites at first glance. Using the FDA BeSafeRx Interactive Map Tool, consumers can now check a pharmacy’s license through their state board of pharmacy (or equivalent state agency) by clicking on a U.S. map. When consumers choose their state from the map, they get directed to their state board of pharmacy’s license database.

The FDA warns that if you cannot confirm that an online pharmacy is licensed in the United States, you should not use that online pharmacy. They also suggest to consumers that once they have identified a state-licensed online pharmacy they should make sure the pharmacy:

• requires a valid prescription from a doctor;
• provides a physical address and telephone number in the United States; and
• has a licensed pharmacist to answer your questions.

The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 12 member companies have the shared goal of helping address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts. Additionally, please be sure to review the consumer protection tools from CSIP Partner LegitScript: the Pharmacy-Checker Tool, Health Product Legitimacy Checker, and the Report a Pharmacy page.