Distribution Survey of Individual Transactions for Pharmaceutical Products via X (Formerly Twitter)

Individual transactions for pharmaceutical products via social networking sites are deemed inappropriate distribution routes for pharmaceuticals and related products and may be a guise for business-to-consumer transactions. To prevent risks to public health, we investigated the status of individual transactions involving pharmaceutical products on the main social networking site used in Japan, X (formerly Twitter), to elucidate the actual status regarding individual transactions of pharmaceutical products. To detect posts involving such individual transactions, we used text mining to extract terms from 1389 text posts intercepted by the Counterfeit and Illegal Drugs Information Center that were suspected of being individual pharmaceutical transactions. We found that the Japanese hashtag #Okusuri mogumogu was often used in posts related to transactions involving psychotropic medicines. To gain further insight into the actual transaction process, we purchased two types of medicines among those being distributed via X. The pharmaceutical products received included gifts of psychotropic medicines that were not ordered and goods such as snacks and commodities. To evaluate the quality of products received, we conducted visual observation, authentication with the manufacturer, and Raman scattering analysis to distinguish the samples received from legally distributed pharmaceuticals in Japan; we also conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in these products using HPLC. According to the results, the products obtained were unlikely to be falsified. The inappropriate distribution of pharmaceuticals should be continuously and closely monitored to prevent health hazards caused by inappropriate use of these products.