PharmacyChecker Verification Program Protects Public Health
Americans and consumers worldwide come to PharmacyChecker.com to find pharmacies that will sell them properly dispensed, genuine medication, at a price they can afford.
We take our role very seriously and continually improve and enhance our program to keep up with changes in the marketplace.
For those who are interested, I’m happy to announce today that we have published our latest program documentation that effectively communicates our most current standards, policies and online pharmacy practice guidance on how to meet those standards. In reviewing our protocols, consumers, healthcare providers and advocates, and policy professionals can more fully understand why websites “approved” in the PharmacyChecker Verification Program are the safest international online pharmacies: as safe as U.S. pharmacies, according to peer-reviewed research and medication testing.
You can review our full set of PharmayChecker.com standards for verifying online pharmacies here. Below are some of the key attributes of our program and standards.
The PharmacyChecker Verification Program is run by a licensed U.S. pharmacist, Kelly Ann Barnes, JD, RPh., formerly the Director of Pharmacy Quality Assurance for the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy. In a public letter to healthcare and public health advocates, Kelly wrote:
“PharmacyChecker works to ensure its verification program requirements continue to meet industry best practices for validating high standards of online pharmacy practice. In so doing, we protect the health of consumers who use our verification and pricing information to buy affordable medication.”
PharmacyChecker.com does not only verify U.S. and Canadian pharmacies. When we launched PharmacyChecker.com in 2003, recognizing that Americans in large numbers were buying medication from Canada, one of our main goals was to evaluate the websites selling medication from Canadian pharmacies, as well as those in the U.S. The industry and scope of online pharmacy practice has expanded globally and our verifications have expanded accordingly. Our program includes verified pharmacies in the most advanced highly regulated countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and of course the United States. It also includes pharmacies subject to onsite inspections in India, Mauritius, Turkey and Singapore. While less recognizable to people in Western countries, these pharmacies, too, meet high standards for pharmacy practice in accordance with government regulations and our standards.
PharmacyChecker.com is not a pharmaceutical or pharmacy regulator. Here in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceutical drugs sold., and the state boards of pharmacies regulate pharmacy practices. Most countries have their own counterparts to fill these roles, which you can research on our section called international pharmacy regulations. We verify that the medications being sold on a PharmacyChecker-approved website are shipped by licensed pharmacies, dispensed by licensed pharmacists, where a valid prescription is required from a customer. We also verify marketing claims, transparency of pharmacy sources, pharmacist consultation availability, privacy policies and more.
PharmacyChecker does not allow pharmacies in our program that sell controlled substances, such as prescription narcotics/opiates, to people in the U.S, unless they are licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, in which case they would need to be be a U.S. pharmacy. Safe international online pharmacies should not be equated with the opiate abuse crisis in our country.
PharmacyChecker.com does not sell or facilitate the sale of medication. Medications are not purchased on our site and we have no role in the processing of prescription orders. We verify credentials and publish information about online pharmacies and drug prices, which are accessible to consumers globally.
