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Patients Beg for Pricey Drugs on Facebook Black Market

"I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. My life is for profit," one patient said

Desperate patients are swapping pricey pharmaceutical drugs on Facebook, NBC News reported.

NBC News searched Facebook and found postings to trade insulins, EpiPens, asthma inhalers and other prescription medications.

"If it weren't for the online diabetes community I would be dead," said Amy Leyendecker, a 43-year-old medical transcription student from Kentucky living with Type-1 diabetes who requires daily doses of insulin to stay alive.

Doctors say patients like Leyendecker take a big gamble.

"Patients can put themselves in grave danger by using insulin 'traded' online," said Dr. Joshua Miller, medical director of diabetes care at Stony Brook Medicine, running the risk of infection, or fluctuating blood sugar levels if the insulin was expired or stored incorrectly.

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