There are 42 sites blacked out by the Nas of the carabinieri as part of an investigation relating to the sale on the internet of medicines and food products not notified.
The sites, located on external servers and with unidentifiable managers, offered - with proposals also in Italian - various types of medicines related to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and alleged food supplements that boasted alleged therapeutic properties. In addition to a series of prescription drugs that can only be sold in pharmacies by licensed pharmacists.
From the investigations carried out by the military, preparations allegedly containing active ingredients subject to particular restrictions of use and specific indications for clinical or experimental use in relation to SARS-COV-2 infection emerged. The research concerned in particular ivermectin (present in 35 sites), a pesticide also used in the veterinary field and for which the EMA, in March, issued a note recommending not to use the active ingredient for prevention or treatment of Covid outside of clinical trials.
Also on sale is the antibiotic azithromycin, with respect to which Aifa has published the sheet "Azithromycin in the therapy of adult patients with Covid-19", with which it provides clinicians with useful elements to guide the prescription and define a relationship between the benefits and the risks to the individual patient; and the anti-inflammatory colchicine, used to relieve pain from acute gout attacks, for which the AIFA has also authorized a study for the sole clinical trial in the treatment of coronavirus with the aim of evaluating the efficacy and safety of the active ingredient in reducing the hospitalization rate of home patients with symptomatic infection.
On the obscured sites it was possible to find drugs containing doping substances (such as clenbuterol, furosemide, testosterone and somatropin), allegedly based on indomethacin, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used in the treatment of degenerative joint diseases, and ranitidine, used for the treatment of stomach ulcer or gastroesophageal reflux.
Finally, four sites presented, in violation of current provisions, alleged food supplements boasting therapeutic properties for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, with promotional claims that highlighted the presumed "natural" origin, and therefore "safe" for the user, of the related compounds.
(Unioneonline / ss)
