Chloroquine, a prescription drug for antimalarial treatment, failed to prove its efficacy against Covid-19 infection. However, Koreans are illegally trading the drug on secondhand online shops.
Selling and buying drugs through secondhand shops are illegal. Moreover, chloroquine has not even obtained approval from the health authorities in Korea.
Korea Biomedical Review has found that two secondhand online shops -- Danggeun Market and Junggonara -- showed postings for Chloroquine Phosphate's sale (Lariago).
Junggonara showed seven transactions of Chloroquine Phosphate (Lariago) and hydroxychloroquine, another antimalarial treatment. The two medicines do not have a local marketing license. The sellers of the drugs said they directly purchased them from overseas online shops.
“I ordered hydroxychloroquine from Herb Catch (a local online shop of overseas goods) in March, but India suddenly banned the export. So, the shop owner sent me Chloroquine Phosphate (Lariago) instead,” one seller said in the posting on Junggonara.
“I want to sell these because I have too many of them. I purchased them from Herb Catch, which sells genuine products only. The original price is over 140,000 won ($127.5) for 500 tablets. It took two months to get the drug.”
Another seller said she purchased Lariago 200 tablets from another overseas goods site, Sakura Herb, for 110,000 won in February. As the tablets are now sold at a higher price of 148,000 won, the seller wanted to sell the pills on the secondhand online shop at 110,000 won.
Danggeun Market has also provided a posting for the sale of Chloroquine Phosphate (Lariago) for two weeks.
However, since the first half of last year, the WHO and many countries, including the U.S., the U.K., and Korea, have recommended against the use of chloroquine for Covid-19 prevention and treatment because the antimalarial medicine did not provide therapeutic benefits.
On Jan. 5, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety called for caution against false information on social media that chloroquine could prevent and treat Covid-19.
“Chloroquine is a prescription drug that should be administered according to doctors’ decision, so illegally buying and using them may cause serious side effects,” the MFDS said. “It is particularly risky to purchase drugs directly through overseas online sites because the products could be fake.”
Dispensing and selling such medicines at a pharmacy without a prescription or selling them online is unlawful activity, the ministry noted. “We will continue to monitor fake news and clamp down on those who illegally trade the drugs,” it added.
In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nullified emergency use approval for chloroquine in treating Covid-19 due to side effects. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also warned chloroquine might cause serious adverse reactions, including an irregular heartbeat.
Despite such concerns and warnings, Koreans continued the illicit trading of chloroquine on online sites.
A ministry official, “We were aware of the illegal online trading of chloroquine.” The government will check the sites and take corrective measures or block those sites, the official added.