In brief
In the context of their surveillance activity against pharmaceutical cybercrimes, the Italian Anti-Adulteration Units (NAS) ordered the shutdown of four websites that unlawfully performed the online sale of drugs and vaccines with alleged therapeutic properties for the treatment of COVID-19.
For the same reasons, in 2020, the NAS had already blocked 237 websites, 217 of which sold products related to the pandemic emergency. In addition to several prescription-only medicinal products whose sale was restricted to pharmacies, the NAS also identified and blocked the sale of unlicensed drugs, medicines containing active ingredients subject to particular restrictions on use or specific indications in relation to the SAR-CoV-2 infection and alleged vaccines against COVID-19.