60% of online search results for pharmaceutical drug leads to fakes

22 October 2019

Google and other search engines are putting consumers at risk of buying fake pharmaceutical products by refusing to remove these websites in their search results.

A new study by online brand protection provider Incopro found that up to 60% of results returned by search engines for specific search terms offer consumers access to counterfeit and possibly dangerous fake drugs.

Six out of 10 of Google’s first-page results following searches for the antibiotic Bactrim were for locations very likely to be operating unlawfully.

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