While GLP-1’s analogues are experiencing a craze for their effect on weight loss, online sales sites offering counterfeits of these drugs proliferate. The European Medication Agency sounds alarm. This cybercrime pushes the profession to strengthen the security system of the “My Pharmacy in France” portal which will be launched at the end of 2025-DEBIT 2026.
In recent months, the health authorities have found a sharp increase in the number of illegal drugs based on semaglutide, liraglutide and shooting sold on the Internet. To the point that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) warns against fraudulent sites, promoted on social networks, which offer them. Health authorities have identified “Hundreds of false Facebook profiles, false advertisements and false electronic commerce sheets, many of which are hosted outside the European Union. Some use official false logos and false recommendations to deceive consumers ”warns the EMA.
These sites seem to be legitimate: impeccable graphics, official logos, commercial offers … But, the products they sell, unauthorized, do not meet the standards of security and efficiency imposed within the European Union. They “Can be completely devoid of the claimed active substance and contain harmful concentrations of other substances”warns the agency. Consumers therefore face “A very high risk of therapeutic failure, unexpected and serious health problems and dangerous interactions with other drugs.”
According to a report by the Cybersecurity Gen group, made public in August, 95 % of online pharmacies that sell drugs are fraudulent. And France would be particularly targeted by these false sites. GEN researchers have identified a global organized criminal network which orchestrates more than 5,000 illegal sites marketing treatments, manipulates research on Google, diverts real medical sites and holds false medical blogs thanks to AI. More than “151,000 Pharmafraud attacks have been blocked” by the Avast cybersecurity company since January in France.
“Nature hates emptiness”, Comments Alain Grollaud, President of Federgy, on the initiative of the “My Pharmacy” portal project. “And it only worsened with drug shortages. Consumers are looking for their online medication at all costs and do not check who sells it. This is why it takes a portal, locked in terms of safety, which brings people to real pharmacies, who exist physically and are held by pharmacies. »» Faced with these attacks, the “My Pharmacy in France” portal is therefore a solution. Its launch, initially scheduled for October, was postponed at the end of 2025 – in early 2026. “We have strengthened the specifications. Not only do we lock the connection via France Connect, to protect health data, but we are extremely vigilant on the security of the portal ”, continues Alain Grollaud.
Will one of the questions that remain unanswered: will the portal use the European logo recommended by the EMA or a logo that will be its own? The EMA indeed advises to check on online sales sites if the European logo is very present: it is a white cross against a background of a green banner, with below the flag of the country concerned and a text. If we click on this flag, a link refers to the list of online sales sites authorized to sell medicines. In France, it can also be found on the site of the National Order of Pharmacists. It must then be verified that the site in question is indeed well part. “” That will not be enough, warns Alain Grollaud. It will take a large information campaign to alert the dangers of buying on fraudulent sites and educating consumers. »»
