{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T17:50:43Z","timestamp":1792173043759,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]],"date-time":"2022-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665619200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Over the last decade, we\u2019ve observed an enormous social media development, which have recently become commercial services. Hence, we aimed to verify if Facebook might be considered as a source of access to medicines. We also intended to identify prescription (Rx) and over the counter (OTC) medicines if available on that platform. The study was conducted from January 2019 to July 2020. We investigated offers of pharmaceuticals posted on Facebook (individual posts and communities) between 2016 and 2019. Medicines were divided into Rx and OTC brands and in accordance with their possible therapeutic use. We verified whether the medicines were for sale, to exchange, or available for free. Posts and groups were investigated for example, by entering the phrase \u201cfor free,\u201d followed by a city in Poland. Out of 409 offers, 380 (92.91%) concerned Rx brands and 29 (7.09%) OTC brands. 315 (77.02%) medications were available \u201cfor free\u201d. In 47 (11.49%) cases, an \u201cexchange\u201d was expected, and 47 (11.49%) announcements were marked as \u201cfor sale\u201d. Cardiovascular medicines (n = 125; 30.56%) were the most popular. There were also antidiabetics (n = 38; 9.29%) and antipsychotics (n = 28; 6.84%). We also found clear candidates for misuse. These were opioids (n = 7; 1.71%), benzodiazepines (n = 2; 0.48%), clomifene (n = 1; 0.24%), and letrozole (n = 1; 0.24%). Facebook provides the possibility of uncontrolled access to medicines. The majority of offers concerned Rx brands, including opioids and benzodiazepines. Medicines offered on Facebook were mainly accessible for free. The scope and the number of medications offered on Facebook should make this issue a hazardous phenomenon.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0275272","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]],"date-time":"2022-10-13T17:49:55Z","timestamp":1665683395000},"page":"e0275272","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Facebook as a source of access to medicines"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9737-9624","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Tomasz","family":"Zaprutko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dorota","family":"Kopciuch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Paczkowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J\u00f3zefina","family":"Sprawka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Cynar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monika","family":"Pogodzi\u0144ska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Niewczas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Stolecka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Sygit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Micha\u0142","family":"Michalak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Piotr","family":"Ratajczak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Krzysztof","family":"Kus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0275272.ref001","first-page":"27","article-title":"Medicine on the Internet","volume":"14","author":"MM Shabot","year":"2001","journal-title":"Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent)"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref002","first-page":"18","article-title":"Trusting Social Media as a Source of Health Information: Online Surveys Comparing the United States, Korea, and Hong Kong","author":"H Song","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1465-3362.2008.00004.x","article-title":"Prescription drug misuse: is technology friend or foe?","volume":"28","author":"S Nielsen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Rev"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref004","unstructured":"Emma Hammett. Online Drug Addiction & Misuse: new rules to combat misuse. In: Online First Aid [Internet]. 9 Apr 2019 [cited 9 Jul 2020]. https:\/\/onlinefirstaid.com\/online-drug-addiction\/"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref005","unstructured":"mckesson-europe-otc-medicines-sales-data-data.pdf. https:\/\/www.mckesson.eu\/mck-en\/resource\/blob\/24540\/7a53568c088bf726ba088a7c722b26d7\/mckesson-europe-otc-medicines-sales-data-data.pdf"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"694","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinthera.2013.03.019","article-title":"Illegal \u201cno prescription\u201d internet access to narrow therapeutic index drugs","volume":"35","author":"BA Liang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Clin Ther"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref007","first-page":"216","article-title":"The Health and Economic Effects of Counterfeit Drugs","volume":"7","author":"EA Blackstone","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am Health Drug Benefits"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1007\/s11096-016-0398-y","article-title":"Availability and quality of illegitimate somatropin products obtained from the Internet","volume":"39","author":"RG Vida","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int J Clin Pharm"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"320","DOI":"10.1097\/YCO.0000000000000520","article-title":"Prescription drug misuse in adolescents and young adults: an emerging issue as a health problem","volume":"32","author":"K Siste","year":"2019","journal-title":"Curr Opin Psychiatry"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"875","DOI":"10.1016\/j.healthpol.2016.06.008","article-title":"Misuse of OTC drugs in Poland","volume":"120","author":"T Zaprutko","year":"2016","journal-title":"Health Policy"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref011","unstructured":"Risks of buying medicines over the internet. In: nidirect [Internet]. 9 Nov 2015 [cited 9 Jul 2020]. https:\/\/www.nidirect.gov.uk\/articles\/risks-buying-medicines-over-internet"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref012","unstructured":"European Medicines Agency. Buying medicines online. In: European Medicines Agency [Internet]. 17 Sep 2018 [cited 29 Jul 2020]. https:\/\/www.ema.europa.eu\/en\/human-regulatory\/overview\/public-health-threats\/falsified-medicines\/buying-medicines-online"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref013","unstructured":"U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Commissioner O of the. How to Buy Medicines Safely From an Online Pharmacy. FDA. 2019 [cited 29 Jul 2020]. https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/consumers\/consumer-updates\/how-buy-medicines-safely-online-pharmacy"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref014","unstructured":"Ventola CL. Social Media and Health Care Professionals: Benefits, Risks, and Best Practices. P T. 2014;39: 491\u2013520. https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4103576\/"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref015","unstructured":"Research C for DE and. For Industry: Using Social Media. FDA. 2020 [cited 24 Jul 2020]. https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/about-fda\/center-drug-evaluation-and-research-cder\/industry-using-social-media"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref016","unstructured":"D20181000Lj.pdf. https:\/\/isap.sejm.gov.pl\/isap.nsf\/download.xsp\/WDU20180001000\/U\/D20181000Lj.pdf"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref017","unstructured":"Mysimba 8 mg\/90 mg prolonged-release tablets\u2014Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC)\u2014(emc). [cited 31 Mar 2022]. https:\/\/www.medicines.org.uk\/emc\/product\/2684#gref"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref018","unstructured":"SYNVISC ONE\u00ae HYLAN G-F 20 Prescribing Information. [cited 31 Mar 2022]. https:\/\/products.sanofi.us\/synviscone\/synviscone.html"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"654","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0038-1673691","article-title":"Prescription Medication Misuse","volume":"38","author":"J Hill","year":"2018","journal-title":"Semin Neurol"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1526-4637.2011.01075.x","article-title":"Societal costs of prescription opioid abuse, dependence, and misuse in the United States","volume":"12","author":"HG Birnbaum","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pain Med"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.1007\/s40258-018-0402-x","article-title":"The Economic Burden of Abuse of Prescription Opioids: A Systematic Literature Review from 2012 to 2017","volume":"16","author":"M Reinhart","year":"2018","journal-title":"Appl Health Econ Health Policy"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"388","DOI":"10.3109\/15360288.2015.1101641","article-title":"Economic Burden of Prescription Opioid Misuse and Abuse: A Systematic Review","volume":"29","author":"GM Oderda","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"556","DOI":"10.18553\/jmcp.2009.15.7.556","article-title":"Economic burden of prescription opioid misuse and abuse","volume":"15","author":"SA Strassels","year":"2009","journal-title":"J Manag Care Pharm"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref024","unstructured":"National Institute on Drug Abuse. Is drug addiction treatment worth its cost? In: National Institute on Drug Abuse [Internet]. \u2014 [cited 15 Sep 2020]. https:\/\/www.drugabuse.gov\/publications\/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition\/frequently-asked-questions\/drug-addiction-treatment-worth-its-cost"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0259317","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0259317","article-title":"Self-medication practices to prevent or manage COVID-19: A systematic review","volume":"16","author":"A Quincho-Lopez","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-020-10145-1","article-title":"Assessment of self-medication practices in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Togo","volume":"21","author":"AJ Sadio","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1023","DOI":"10.2147\/TCRM.S314923","article-title":"Doxycycline in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Therapy","volume":"17","author":"K Dorobisz","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ther Clin Risk Manag"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1010","DOI":"10.1016\/S2213-2600(21)00310-6","article-title":"Doxycycline for community treatment of suspected COVID-19 in people at high risk of adverse outcomes in the UK (PRINCIPLE): a randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial","volume":"9","author":"CC Butler","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Lancet Respiratory Medicine"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref029","unstructured":"Growing use of home Covid-19 tests leaves health agencies in the dark about unreported cases. In: STAT [Internet]. 7 Dec 2021 [cited 31 Mar 2022]. https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2021\/12\/07\/growing-use-of-home-covid19-tests-leaves-health-agencies-in-the-dark\/"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4507","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-18272-4","article-title":"Substantial underestimation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States","volume":"11","author":"SL Wu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref031","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1169","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2015-1364","article-title":"Prescription Opioids in Adolescence and Future Opioid Misuse","volume":"136","author":"R Miech","year":"2015","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref032","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1016\/S2213-2600(18)30152-8","article-title":"Fake medicines: fighting on all fronts","volume":"6","author":"The Lancet Respiratory Medicine null","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet Respir Med"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref033","first-page":"7157","article-title":"Methods for detection of the misuse of \u201canti-oestrogens and aromatase inhibitors\u201d in sport","volume":"28","author":"S Ivanova","year":"2017","journal-title":"Biomedical Research (0970-938X)"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref034","first-page":"26","article-title":"Anabolic steroids abuse and male infertility","author":"R El Osta","year":"2016","journal-title":"Basic Clin Androl"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugpo.2014.06.016","article-title":"Nod and wave: an Internet study of the codeine intoxication phenomenon","volume":"26","author":"MC Van Hout","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int J Drug Policy"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"921","DOI":"10.1007\/s40264-015-0333-5","article-title":"Evaluating Social Media Networks in Medicines Safety Surveillance: Two Case Studies","volume":"38","author":"PM Coloma","year":"2015","journal-title":"Drug Saf"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8751","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17238751","article-title":"Community Pharmacies in Poland\u2014The Journey from a Deregulated to a Strictly Regulated Market","volume":"17","author":"M Wi\u015bniewski","year":"2020","journal-title":"IJERPH"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref038","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1807","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sapharm.2020.05.033","article-title":"The legal extension of the role of pharmacists in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic","volume":"17","author":"P Merks","year":"2021","journal-title":"Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e033405","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2019-033405","article-title":"Evaluation of community pharmacists\u2019 readiness to implement the Falsified Medicines Directive (Directive 2011\/62\/EC): an English cross-sectional survey with geospatial analysis","volume":"10","author":"R. Barrett","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.32383\/appdr\/99682","article-title":"Access to vaccination in the Greater Poland (Poland)","volume":"76","author":"T Zaprutko","year":"2019","journal-title":"Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica\u2014Drug Research"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"242","DOI":"10.56499\/jppres17.350_6.4.242","article-title":"Development and initial validation of a postal survey evaluation of community pharmacists\u2019 opinion regarding falsified (counterfeit) medicines in Hampshire (UK)","volume":"6","author":"R Barrett","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy Research"},{"key":"pone.0275272.ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"587","DOI":"10.1080\/14740338.2017.1313227","article-title":"A review of existing and emerging digital technologies to combat the global trade in fake medicines","volume":"16","author":"TK Mackey","year":"2017","journal-title":"Expert Opin Drug Saf"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0275272","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,5]],"date-time":"2024-10-05T19:33:28Z","timestamp":1728156808000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0275272"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Selcen","family":"Ozturkcan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0275272","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,13]]}}}