Many people are selling off excess supplies of life-saving prescription drugs on Craigslist, potentially putting patient safety at risk, but also highlighting the desperate measures some are willing to go to amid high out-of-pocket prices for the medications, a new study shows.
After reports emerged that some patients unable to afford their prescription drugs were turning to Craigslist, researchers at ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, and other institutions combed through the online classified ad website across all 50 states to reveal ads for insulin for diabetics and albuterol for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Their findings were published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
In all, they found 432 advertisements for insulin – including insulin analogs and human synthetic insulin – and 105 ads for albuterol in 240 cities in 31 states. They also searched for ads for Mylan’s EpiPen, but did not find any. The three drugs were chosen because they are outpatient drugs able to rapidly stabilize patients who are on the brink of death.
Unregulated prescription drug sales online violate the law and also Craigslist’s own policies and can be flagged and reported, the researchers noted. But as illustrated by a report by a Dallas-area NBC affiliate, many patients have sought to purchase drugs there anyway, particularly insulin, whose price has tripled in less than two decades. The study’s lead author, Dr. Jennifer Goldstein, a hospitalist with ChristianaCare Hospitalist Partners and research scientist at its research arm, The Value Institute, has heard of similar experiences from her own patients.
“I have taken care of many patients who engage in tactics such as sharing, bartering or illegally purchasing insulin from friends, family and peers,” Goldstein wrote in an email.
Still, the authors wrote that the content of the ads raised concerns about the quality and safety of the drugs being sold. For example, improper storage of insulin can lead to loss of potency or contamination. They found that per-vial prices of analog insulin on Craigslist were $372.30 less than retail prices, while those of human synthetic insulin were $123.19 less expensive. Ironically, albuterol inhalers were on average more expensive, costing $18.77 more than they do at retail. Retail prices were checked using the website Drugs.com. Sanofi’s Lantus (insulin glargine), Eli Lilly’s Humalog (insulin lispro) and Novo Nordisk’s NovoLog (insulin aspart) were the most common insulin products found.
Motives of sellers varied, with some wishing to avoid waste and others being altruistic, while others still were financial. For example, one seller claimed to be selling a deceased family member’s drugs to pay for her funeral costs.
However, Goldstein said patients should not have to resort to using Craigslist to find affordable insulin.
“We need substantive policy reform to right this wrong,” she wrote. “Our patients deserve better.”
Photo: Hero Images, Getty Images
