Application of datascience for evaluation of online pharmaceutical markets Orvos- és Egészségtudományi

34 OTDK, Orvos- és Egészségtudományi Szekció, Gyógyszertudományok - Gyógyszertechnológia, gyógyszerfelügyelet, minőségbiztosítás II. Tagozat.

Application of datascience for evaluation of online pharmaceutical markets

Különdíj: t

Hallgató: Ramiz Hahighi
Szak: Gyógyszerészeti Intézet és Klinikai Központi Gyógyszertár, Képzés típusa: o, Intézmény: Pécsi Tudományegyetem, Kar: Általános Orvostudományi Kar

Témavazetők: Prof. Dr. Botz Lajos - egyetemi tanár, Pécsi Tudományegyetem Gyógyszerésztudományi Kar ,
Dr. Fittler András - egyetemi docens, Pécsi Tudományegyetem Gyógyszerésztudományi Kar

Introduction:
The rapid development and uncontrolled proliferation of online pharmacies has
introduced significant public health and patient safety concerns recently. Emergence
of illegal online pharmacies that violate international laws and distribute falsified
medications is an international issue. Manual mapping and evaluating networks, is
slow, incomplete, and wasteful for human resources. Thus, in collaboration with the
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology we have set up a data mining and
network analysis IT methodology.
Methods:
WebMedScan is a web based crawler software written in python. It is developed and
designed to crawl like a spider within the websites and it’s webpages to search for the
keywords that has been specified for the robot. The specificity and sensitivity of the
software can be adjusted by defining e.g. language, ignored websites, obligatory
keywords. Numerous favorable data can be exported into XML format: keywords,
images, hyperlinks etc. By the conversion the XML output to Gephi (graph
visualization software), we are able to realize the nodes (websites), their links to each
other (edges), furthermore perform statistical analysis.
Results:
We have manually collected Hungarian language illegitimate websites distributing
erectile dysfunction drugs. After initializing the spider form these sites, a network of
millions of nodes can be evaluated. We have also identified a new concept of illegal
URL indirection, as we have documented illegal links of hacked websites redirecting
customers to illegal internet pharmacies.
Conclusion:
Identification, evaluation and reporting of illegal internet pharmacy networks to
authorities can decrease patent safety issues of the online pharmacy market.