Expert Q&A: Ordering Foreign Drugs
Meds from other countries may not be safe.
Question: I heard about a medication that you can get online that is very effective for arthritis pain but it isn’t available in the U.S. Do you know what it is and how I can get some?
Answer: I would be very hesitant to take a medication that you can get online from outside the U.S. for many reasons. First, and perhaps most obvious, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carefully regulates the testing and manufacturing of drugs to protect the health of U.S. citizens. If a drug isn’t approved by the FDA then it likely has not gone through this testing, and you would have no may have no way of knowing if it is safe or effective. Even if you know a drug is approved in the U.S. and then choose to get it from another country because it is less expensive, many such products are not what they claim to be, or sometimes contain dangerous contaminants.
Daniel Clauw, MD
Rheumatologist, Pain Researcher
Director, Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center
University of Michigan Medical School
Published 7/12/2021
