FDA to block illegal Cipro sales from foreign Web sites

AP Medical WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration has ordered all private Cipro shipments arriving from overseas to be stopped at the border, a move to crack down on illegal Internet antibiotic sales spurred by the anthrax scare.

The FDA also is investigating reports that Internet sites are selling fake Cipro instead of the real medication.

Dozens of Web sites have sprung up in the last two weeks promising to sell anthrax-treating Cipro packages without having to visit a doctor -- at a whopping $7 a pill.

Selling Cipro without a prescription is illegal. Cipro does cause side effects that mean some people should not take it, and some of these Cipro kits don't even promise the proper dose to fend off anthrax. Worse, health authorities worry that some Internet-sold products may not be Cipro but a fake.

Some of these Internet sites are based overseas, and the FDA's alert to U.S. Customs Thursday is the agency's first step in stopping those sales. The agency also is poised to begin sending foreign Web sites warning letters telling them to immediately cease Cipro shipments here, an agency official said Friday.

If the companies do not stop, the FDA's next step would be formal requests to foreign health regulators to intervene, a move that worked two years ago in a similar FDA crackdown on illegal Internet drug sales.

The move comes as state pharmacy boards notified the FDA Thursday that they are beginning investigations into U.S.-based Internet sites illegally selling Cipro.

It is legal to buy prescription drugs over the Internet only if the patient has a legitimate prescription, which online drugstores often require to be faxed to them. Many state laws make clear that filling out an online questionnaire for a doctor employed by the Web site to scan does not meet that requirement.

The FDA's Internet probes come as the government struggles to explain to Americans that only people truly exposed to anthrax should take antibiotics, and that there is enough Cipro and two equally effective drugs -- doxycycline and penicillin -- on hand.

"We think it's a bad idea for consumers to buy these antibiotics and to use them indiscriminantly," said FDA pharmacy chief Tom McGinnis. Not only does Cipro cause side effects, but "we're worried about antibiotic resistance when consumers take them without a legitimate need."

In addition to the FDA's separate investigation of suspected fake Cipro, a senator has urged Customs and the Federal Trade Commissioner to crack down on all fake anthrax remedies. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote the agencies that he particularly wants Internet marketers of fake Cipro shut down within the month.