Before the pilot programs in Hainan and Shenzhen, no regulations in China have unequivocally allowed the online trade of prescription drugs.

However, some provincial governments and third-party e-commerce platforms like Alibaba and JD.com have had a try amid the trend of internet-based diagnosis and treatment in recent years. The online sales of prescription drugs, as an unauthorized activity, has received continuous objections due to public concerns about drug abuse.

Therefore, to ensure safety, the pilot measures for Shenzhen only allow prescription drugs to be sold to patients who have the corresponding prescriptions. The prescriptions should come from the Shenzhen Electronic Prescription Center to show that they are reliable and formulated by eligible doctors/pharmacists.

The measures also stipulate that drugs subject to special administration by the authority, such as vaccines, blood products, narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, toxic drugs for medical use, radioactive drugs, and pharmaceutical precursor chemicals, shall not be sold online.

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