by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 26, 2011 | Drug Prices, Healthcare Reform, Medicare Drug Plans, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
In the State of the Union speech last night, President Obama highlighted prescription savings benefits in his otherwise brief coverage of new healthcare reform. As we’ve previously reported, and President Obama was clear to state, those prescription savings will go mostly to our nation’s seniors who are enrolled in Medicare. Beginning last September, many of America’s seniors received $250 rebate checks for prescription drug costs, a small step toward affordable healthcare. Better yet, starting this year, the coverage gap will narrow, with enrollees receiving a 50% discount on brand name drugs, and by 2020, a 75% discount. While the “doughnut hole” will not fully be closed, the savings will mean that far fewer Medicare enrollees will face exorbitant brand name drug prices out of pocket. (more…)
Tagged with: 50-64, brand name drugs, discount, doughnut hole, health insurance, Medicare, personal drug importation, prescription drugs, President Obama, rebate, seniors, State of The Union, uninsured
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 14, 2010 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
As too many Americans skip taking their medication due to cost, the issue of drug affordability is of critical importance to public health. It is also one that politicians ignore or wrongly address to their peril. Urging Republican lawmakers not to ignore Americans who are struggling with high drug prices, Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute recommended a nuanced, free-market approach to the problem of high drug prices. In an article published yesterday by AEI, Mr. Bate called for the decriminalization of personal drug importation and the continued statutory ban on wholesale drug importation. By doing so, more Americans who are disadvantaged by high drug prices can find relief through safe and affordable international online pharmacies, while not undermining pharmaceutical research and development in the United States, which, he argues, relies on the maintenance of our wholesale drug importation laws.
Underscoring Mr. Bate’s position was his recognition, based on his own empirical research, that Americans who purchase brand name prescription drugs from non-U.S. pharmacies could do so with confidence by consulting the approved list of online pharmacies found on PharmacyChecker.com.
Tagged with: AEI, American Enterprise Institute, decriminalization, Online Pharmacies, personal drug importation, republicans, Roger Bate
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Dec 13, 2010 | Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies
The Obama administration is taking actions to address the illegal sale of counterfeit prescription drugs online. These efforts can benefit patients who could fall victim to rogue online pharmacies, but may also limit access to safe and affordable medication provided by non-U.S. international online pharmacies, many based in Canada. Millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans have purchased prescription drugs through, and relied on, such websites to afford medicine.
Last Monday, the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), Victoria Espinel, stated that her office was in discussions with Google, Go Daddy, American Express, and Microsoft about cracking down on online pharmacies, and that an announcement about IPEC’s plans moving forward will be made within weeks. This statement seems to be a follow-up to a late-September meeting held by IPEC, which brought together domain registrars and registries to discuss voluntary protocols to combat the sale of non-controlled counterfeit medication online. As we reported, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) notably declined its invitation to attend this meeting, and at least one of its attendees, Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones, as reported on Domain Incite, communicated that intellectual property protection was not discussed and voluntary protocols were not agreed to. Jones also shared her understanding that an “FDA solution” might be used to combat counterfeit drugs being sold online. Espinel’s statement last week suggests the same. (more…)
Tagged with: Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, American Express, drugs from canada, FDA, GoDaddy, Google, I-Save RX, ICANN, intellectual property rights, Interpol, IPEC, Joseph Biden, Katheleen Sebelius, Margaret Hamburg, Microsoft, Obama Administration, Online Pharmacies, Pfizer, public health, Public Library of Science One, Rahm Immanuel, rogue pharmacies, under-insured, uninsured, United States
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 2, 2010 | Online Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, Personal Drug Importation
On September 21st, 2010, Google filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against over 50 defendants for “violating policies and circumventing technological measures“. This action is part of a series of efforts by Google to prevent rogue online pharmacies from advertising in its search marketing program called adWords.
Google’s filing makes it clear that, despite extensive verification procedures, automated keyword blocking, and a dramatic change of ad policies, some illicit rogue sites still manage to bypass Google’s rules. The lawsuit demonstrates that Google is its own final gatekeeper for websites placing ads using pharmaceutical and pharmacy terms, not third party online pharmacy verification companies it uses to help identify online pharmacies that meet safe standards. It also shows that while PharmacyChecker.com worked with Google, and as the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program does now, unapproved, rogue pharmacies were and are able to find a way to advertise on Google. In viewing its search marketing platform, we find that Google instituted a technical solution to block rogues back in late January 2010, which has proven quite effective, although apparently, according to Google, not perfect. (more…)
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Canadian pharmacies, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, drugs from canada, Google, international pharmacies, law suit, low-cost, Online Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, personal drug importation, pharmacychecker.com, rogue pharmacies, save money, United States, VIPPS
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 1, 2010 | Online Pharmacies
The White House held a meeting this past Wednesday, to which ICANN, domain registrars and registries were invited, to address the sale of counterfeit prescription medication and illegal online activity. PharmacyChecker obviously supports actions against rogue online pharmacies that pose a danger to patients, but has concerns that, due to pharmaceutical industry interests and recommendations, government efforts to shut down rogue sites might escalate to affect online pharmacies that provide a lifeline to Americans seeking safe and affordable medication online. We drafted a letter to ICANN recommending that that they not play a role in settling public policy and legal disputes on behalf of national governments, particularly in this case where pharmaceutical interests appear overly represented. ICANN seems to have agreed with our position. (more…)
Tagged with: Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, Domain Incite, Drug Prices, ICANN, LegitScript, Online Pharmacies, personal drug importation, policy
by Tod Cooperman, MD, President, PharmacyChecker.com, and Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com | Sep 28, 2010 | Online Pharmacies
To remind our readers about the White House meeting on Wednesday, September 29th — where discussions will be held with leaders from ICANN and domain registrars to address the issue of online pharmacies and counterfeit drugs — we’re republishing the post of the letter we sent to ICANN stating our position.
September 13th, 2010
Mr. John O. Jeffery
General Counsel
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
RE: White House meeting to discuss online pharmacies
Dear John –
We are the president and vice president of PharmacyChecker.com, the leading online verification company for U.S. and international online pharmacies. We learned recently of the White House meeting scheduled for September 29th intended to focus on “voluntary protocols to address the illegal online sale of counterfeit non-controlled prescription medication” (the “Meeting”).
The broader legal and policy issues affecting whether and when ICANN and its members should accede to government requests to deny or cancel domain name registrations is a very serious one for the future of the internet, and is generally beyond our purview. Our purpose is to set out for you and your members some considerations that should affect your evaluation of whatever may be presented at the Meeting. We request that you make this letter available to all members invited to or attending the Meeting. The letter is necessarily in summary form, and we would be pleased to provide upon request additional information that may assist you. (more…)
Tagged with: domain registrars, FDA, ICANN, Meeting, NABP
