La contraffazione dei farmaci e il commercio dei medicinali su Internet: questioni emergenti, aspetti regolatori, percezione e atteggiamento di operatori e utenti.

The first part of this research focuses on drug counterfeiting and trade on the Internet in Europe and in Italy in several respects: definition, scale of the problem, examples and alerts, Interpol and Impact; counterfeiting of medicines and Italian legislation, economic implications, criminal activities; European legislation; shortage of drugs and possible purchase online; Impact Italy; tracking of the drug; contrasting efforts. In the second part, the results of a series of surveys concerning online purchase of drugs and knowledge and opinions about the internet as a source of medical information and medicine supply. In a survey via computer, several web sites offering anabolic androgenic steroids and available products were identified and analysed for their content. In a questionnaire survey among a large sample of pharmacy customers we evaluated the attitudes towards the use of Internet to retrieve health-related information and for drugs and/or dietary supplements purchase. Finally, the views of pharmacists on the sale of drugs and parapharmaceutical products on the Internet were suveyed by means of an online questionnaire and their attitudes towards online pharmacies were investigated. In conclusion, it is suggested that the web should be considered not only a source of danger but also of opportunities for the retrieval of health-related information as well as for the availability of medicines, however several measures need to be taken to ensure its safety and reliability.