By Neil Trainis

The General Pharmaceutical Council chief executive Duncan Rudkin has insisted the regulator is “taking robust action in response to concerns over some online prescribing services” following a national newspaper investigation that found drugs designed to disrupt the body’s hormones were being sold to teenagers without checks being carried out.

A Sunday Times exposé revealed youngsters with gender dysphoria are being fed disinformation on one forum on social media platform Reddit that has nearly 40,000 members and directed to online pharmacies illegally selling potentially dangerous drugs that can help them undergo “DIY” transitions.

The newspaper said it bought the drugs “within minutes” without showing proof of age or providing a prescription. It said spironolactone, which is primarily used to treat fluid build-up due to heart failure, liver scarring or kidney disease, was most commonly being sold as a testosterone suppressant. Side-effects include acute kidney injury, alopecia, breast pain, confusion, dizziness, gastrointestinal disorder and nausea.

Other drugs sold by some online pharmacies to youngsters looking to transition from male to female include dutasteride, which is used to treat men who have symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland, and estradiol, which is indicated for the treatment of vaginal atrophy and recurrent urinary-tract infection in postmenopausal women, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Symptoms include headaches, nausea, skin reactions and hypertension.

One of the online pharmacies named by the Times, United Pharmacies (UK), operates from a website registered in Moldova and is based in Hong Kong. The GPhC told Independent Community Pharmacist that because the business is operating in another country and shipping medicines from overseas, it was a matter for the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

The GPhC also confirmed it has no powers to take action against websites based overseas, although it said it refers concerns about those websites to the MHRA and has produced guidance to help the public stay safe when turning to medicines and treatments online.

However, the GPhC did not respond to the specific question of whether it intends to approach the Times for the names of any other online pharmacies that have apparently been supplying hormone transitions illegally.

Rudkin (pictured), however, told ICP: “Patients and the public are increasingly using online pharmacy services to get medicines. These can offer real benefits to people, but the right safeguards need to be in place to protect patients, as medicines are not ordinary items of commerce.

“We are taking robust action in response to concerns over some online prescribing services in Great Britain and are working closely with other relevant regulators.”

The GPhC’s director for insight, intelligence and inspection, Claire Bryce-Smith, told the Clinical Pharmacy Congress in May that many online pharmacies were failing to meet its standards and potentially putting patients’ safety at risk but insisted the regulator was on top of the problem.