میزان استفاده از داروخانه های آنلاین در عربستان سعودی The extent of use of online pharmacies in Saudi Arabia

1. Introduction Online pharmacies are companies that sell medicines, including prescription-only medicines, over the Internet and deliver them by mail (Makinen et al., 2005). The first online pharmacy was started in the United States (US) in the late 1990s, and sold both nonprescription and prescription-only medicines (Orizio et al., 2011). In the US, around 3000 websites were selling prescription medicines in 2009. This had increased to more than 5000 in 2010, and continues to rise rapidly (MarkMonitor, 2011; NABP internet report, 2011). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a section on its website entitled ‘‘Buying Medicines Over the Internet” (Gallagher and Colaizzi, 2000). A comprehensive review of previous research on online pharmacy and their usage has been published in 2011showed that it is spreading continuously with partial regulation (Orizio et al., 2011). Policy regulations and individual health literacy are two main aspects that the authors recommend to improve this phenomenon. However, such information about the online purchase of medicine is not available in Saudi Arabia. Exploring Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) website gives little information about regulations on internet sale of products or pharmaceuticals in the country (SFDA website, 2016). A warning statement has been published in SFDA website in 2011 (SFDA website, 2011). Usually a release form has to be filled by those who order a medicine online and supply a list of documents including the prescription. It is important to understand how this service operates to ensure that appropriate regulations are put in place to monitor and control the online purchase of medicines and to prevent any risk of prescription-medicine abuse. The aim of the study is to explore the extent of purchasing medicine online in Saudi Arabia. Two main objectives will be sought; the first will be the existence of such phenomenon, the second will be the reasons behind the willingness to purchase/not purchase medicine online.