The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now eyeing to allow e-pharmacy, or online retailers without physical stores to sell drugs online.
FDA Officer in Charge Director General Oscar G. Gutierrez, Jr. disclosed they are now crafting the guidelines for the new scheme.
The e-pharmacy, however, he said, will still be required to have an office address as well as to identify the warehouse where their drugs are being sourced from in order to be allowed to operate.
“So this will be more or less our direction in FDA. We will release the draft guidelines for public comments,” Gutierrez said in a televised interview on Wednesday.
The FDA official stressed e-pharmacy will only be allowed to sell over-the-counter drugs. “This is because the advertising and offering of prescription drugs for sale online is prohibited,” Gutierrez said.
The new measure is expected to allow more consumers to have access to more drug retailers online amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Currently, FDA only allows companies with a physical store or pharmacy to apply for a special permit to sell drugs online.