Frankenstein's Pharmacy: Digital Markets and Chemical Dealings

Posted by Beth Smith

"Business India" on CNBC reports the Health Ministry in India has recently started taking legal action against online pharmacies, stating that many of these digital retailers have violated several drug ordinance codes. According to the Indian government “these online pharmacies and platforms were found to be selling drugs that are not allowed for retail sale without proper prescriptions from registered medical practitioners”, and as such the government has moved to place legal sanctions on the companies running these platforms. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists has also been involved in efforts to prosecute the companies behind these online pharmacies, as they have publicly stated that there are concerns regarding the formation of monopolies within the pharmaceutical industry as well as issues regarding the privacy of patient information. Many chemists and doctors within the country have also brought up concerns regarding the health risks of these websites, as they worry people may try to incorrectly self-medicate using them and experience serious side effects. While chemistry and biology professionals raise concerns over the safety and ethics of these sites, many Indian citizens continue to use them, as they gained massive amounts of popularity during the lockdowns incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, and for many people they are more convenient than physical doctor’s offices and pharmacies.

While the term “chemist” is used here to describe those in the pharmaceutical industry, this news story involves the medical applications of biochemistry, and thus reflects on chemists as a whole through the lens of a layperson looking at the products of this field. This particular news story has sort of a split portrayal of chemists, with those who side with the regulations of the government portrayed as good chemists and those operating both small scale and large international pharmaceutical websites as bad chemists. While the news story does not uniformly portray chemists poorly, it still tends to stereotype those who work in online pharmaceutical companies. It plays into the narrative of some “bad” groups of scientists being reckless rogues who do not understand danger in the face of discovery, fame, and profit, ultimately fueling the image of those in a less regulated industry being nefarious mad scientists akin to Frankenstein. This story also plays into the idea of pharmaceutical companies and the chemists who work for them being willing to harm their customers in the name of profit, which is another chemophobic idea frequently seen in those who refuse conventional medication and vaccination. While these digital markets do have a potential for harm, as the patients purchasing these drugs may not know things such as proper dosages and can not be instructed by professionals as they would be in a doctor’s office or traditional pharmacy, those running these websites are largely not malicious actors seeking to poison people, nor would it make financial sense for the companies and employees running this website to harm those paying them for their goods. While the risks associated with medication outside of direct instruction and supervision are not negligible, the idea that chemists are using conventional medicine to intentionally harm people for profit does play into many anti-science attitudes. While the news story ultimately tries to avoid portraying all chemists in the same way, the manner in which the article separates “good” scientists from “bad” ones ultimately falls back on using stereotypes associated with rogue chemists to describe those working for digital pharmacies.