Health Minister: More Than 70 Online Platforms Identified as Illegally Selling Medicines

More than 73 online platforms have been identified as illegally offering medicines for sale, including more than 30 websites that mainly sell peptides, Health Minister Katya Ivkova told reporters on October 9.

Reports have also been sent to the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDBOP), she said. Many people use peptides, but these are not supplied through the established legal channels for purchasing medicines in Bulgaria. People who use them want quick results, mainly related to weight loss, but they do not know what substance they are putting into their bodies, Minister Ivkova added.

“The main challenge in our enforcement work is that in 99% of cases the domains are registered outside Bulgaria, which severely limits the Ministry of Interior’s ability to block access to the websites concerned,” said Bogdan Kirilov, head of the Bulgarian Drug Agency.

He said the Agency was conducting test purchases jointly with the Ministry of Interior and forwarding the accompanying documentation to GDBOP. The aim was to identify those involved in the trade, trace addresses and explore ways of obtaining IP addresses, so that penalties could be imposed.

There are currently three proceedings under way. In two cases, formal statements establishing administrative violations have already been drawn up. In the third, the person responsible for the trade is due to be summoned by the Ministry of Interior authorities and issued with such a statement, Kirilov said. The penalties provided for by law amount to around €38,000, he added.

Another challenge is that many websites change their names or links to other sites. The biggest difficulty, however, concerns domains registered outside Bulgaria, Kirilov said.

He warned that buying medicines from such websites offers no guarantee that the products have been stored properly or that they meet the required quality standards.