Human Behaviors in Online Pharmacies

Online pharmacies are companies that sell pharmaceutical preparations via the Internet. The purpose of this contribution is to summarize the existing evidence on the issue, following four main research areas. The first is about data on consumers buying from online pharmacies. This is the most relevant area regarding behavioral aspects. The research area was tackled via different approaches, specifically: the study of cognitive characteristics and decision-making patterns, the definition of consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics via population-based surveys, clinical case reports on complications occurring in consumers of drugs purchased online, and the empirical study of risk perception regarding online pharmacies. Other research areas include the study of online pharmacy website characteristics (found by web scanning), and of the products bought online in terms of purchase characteristics and drug quality. A large amount of literature was dedicated to the complex legal and ethical implications raised by online pharmacies.