Buyer Beware: Fertility Drugs Online

Nearly 10 percent of couples of child-bearing age in the United States are infertile.

And with costs for fertility drugs running in the thousands of dollars and insurance coverage either limited or non-existent, CBS News Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel reports on a new Internet phenomenon, a kind of online black market where couples are able to buy fertility drugs illegally.

"A lot of patients who have gone through these horrible treatments who paid a lot of money and have leftover medication feel that they want to help other patients in a friendly way, to cooperate and give them medicine," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, the director of reproductive endocrinology at Mount Sinai-NYU Medical Center. "Other people are doing it to recover some of the costs and perhaps some are doing it to make some money."

But there are many risks involved in sharing fertiltiy drugs, and especially in buying them from people you don't know.

"You don't know how it's been stored, how it's being shipped," said Grifo. "Have the drugs expired? By how long? Do you know the person who is selling the medication? How well? Do you trust this person? How can you be sure it hasn't been tampered with?"

There are three online options for purchasing infertility drugs: legitimate, licensed and registered pharmacies; foreign offshore drug suppliers; and message board and chat room postings. It's the last two that concern physicians and regulators.

"You really need to make a distinction between buying drugs at legitimate online pharmacies ... and offshore sellers," said Grifo, who is also vice president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies and served on the group's ethics committee. They're selling European versions of drugs that have not been approved by the FDA, so you don't know what you're buying and from whom."

With nearly 6.1 million Americans suffering from infertility -- men and women are affected equally: low sperm count in men and ovulation, fibroids and pelvic inflammatory disease in women -- only 20 percent seek medical treatment.

That's because the cost of treating infertility can be enormous. Average pharmacy costs can range from $2,477 per treatment for protein hormones used to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs to $3,847 for Gonal-F, the most commonly used injectable drug. Often a patient will require multiple drug therapies to conceive. Grifo estimates that a vial of fertility drugs can cost $50, and many couples need 25 to 40 vials.

And that's just the drugs.

Add the cost of doctors' visits and treatments, and the total tab can be as high at $40,000 to $50,000, even higher for some couples. A 1998 study of fertility clinics by the Centers for Disease Control estimated the average cost of treatments at about $8,000 per attempt. And of those who stay the fertility clinic course, only about 20 percent go home with a new son or daughter.

But buying fertility drugs onlie is not only a health risk -- it's also a legal risk.

The sale of prescription drugs by anyone but a licensed pharmacist is a misdemeanor that could result in fines and/or jail time. Shipping drugs through the U.S. Postal Service knocks the misdemeanor charge up to mail fraud. But usually the worst that happens to these couples if they're caught is that their offshore drug purchases are confiscated by U.S. Customs.

"It's not legal for those medications to come into the country," said Grifo, who adds that the only safe way to buy fertility drugs is through your doctor and a licensed pharmacist.

A look at one of several message boards and chat rooms on fertility provides some insight into why couples are logging on to the Internet to find discounts on fertility drugs, despite the risks involved. Sites such as Fertilethoughts.com, Childofmydreams.com and Americanfertility.com provide an outlet for couples trying to conceive, but it also shows just how desperate some of these men and women can be. Nothing seems to impede them: not pain, not fear, not uncertainty, not even physical threats to their well-being.

"There's nothing wrong with it if you can assure that the drugs were handled properly," said Grifo. "It's dangerous because you don't know what you're getting."

And although the sites mentioned in this story are legitimate -- they offer emotional support and information to infertile couples -- they must be ever vigilant for postings on fertility drug exchanges, which are deleted immediately.

There are more clandestine sites, but they are not easy to find. There's an underground route to them, but doctors and patients are close-mouthed about them to outsiders. Often it's nurses and other medical professionals who put financially-strapped couples onto their clandestine websites.

With both offshore purchases and individual sales, there is no guarantee of quality control, dosing standards or professional storage and transport. In individual sales and swaps, tampering or contamination is always a threat, although there have been no known reported cases of either to date.

"Would I say never, ever buy fertility drugs from an individual?" said Grifo. "No. If it's your sister-in-law and you trust her completely and you know she's gone to great care to store this drug, why not? But if it's from some stranger, buyer beware."