Buying drugs on the internet

By Ken Y-N ( April 30, 2013 at 00:46) ? Filed under Internet, Polls

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted by Dentsu Innovation Institute into selling over-the-counter medicines on the internet. The full report is available as a PDF here.

Demographics

During March 2013 2,000 people were chosen by unspecified means to answer a PC internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, and each age band from twenties to sixties contained 200 males and 200 females.

A recent Japan Times editorial explained the situation in more detail; basically there are three categories of non-presecription drugs. The first category is for drugs that can only be sold in pharmacies, and the second and third in pharmacies or other stores with a registered sales assistant, who is obliged to provide information regarding side-effects, etc. As can be seen in Q2, the categories are very, very broad.

Research results

Q1: Do you agree or disagree with allowing medicines to be sold on the internet? (Sample size=2,000)

Agree	58.7%
Disagree	10.7%
Can?t say	30.7%

Men were more keen on it than women, as were those from more rural areas compared to city dwellers. The three most popular merits were that one doesn?t need to travel to buy items but can order from anywhere, one can order at any time once one realises they need something, and one can save time. The three top demerits were that there could be dodgy companies, one cannot decide by oneself what one needs, and one has to determine by oneself about the effectiveness, combination with other drugs, risks of side effects, etc.

In the table below, the N value for each category is the number of people in the sample who have previously bought the item at physical locations.

Q2: For OTC medicines that you previously bought in drug stores, etc, would you like to buy them over the internet in the future? (Sample size=various, multiple answer)

Hair growth tonic N=94	73.4%
Pregnancy test kit, ovulation prediction kit N=105	65.7%
Exernal use anti-inflammatory medicine N=530	63.8%
Medicinal alcohol N=107	63.6%
Nutritional tonic, vitamin N=457	63.0%
Nutritious supplement drink N=1,065	63.0%
Fat-blocking medicine N=72	62.5%
Athlete?s foot medicine N=239	59.8%
Antispasmodic medicine N=538	57.4%
Hemorrhoid cream N=104	56.7%
Laxitive N=133	54.1%
Chinese medicine N=119	52.9%
Eye drops N=1,121	50.4%
Stomach medicine N=463	50.1%
Cold remedy N=553	46.3%
Painkiller, fever medicine N=816	46.3%
Nasal inflammation medicine N=342	43.3%
Incontinence medicine N=14	42.9%
Painkiller, fever medicine (immediate effect type) N=351	42.2%
Stomach medicine (immediate effect type) N=200	42.0%
Cold remedy (immediate effect type) N=638	37.8%
Sleep remedy N=30	36.7%

I?m not sure what the ?immediate effect type? indicates.

Q3: For OTC medicines that you haven?t previously bought in drug stores, etc, would you like to buy them over the internet in the future? (Sample size=2,000)

Read more on: dentsu,medicine

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