by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 24, 2010 | Online Pharmacy Verification Services
Click on the seal to test its validity and view the online pharmacy profile.
Just last week the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted for a bill – Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act – to crackdown on websites selling counterfeit products, which will include rogue online pharmacies. This could be a great thing for patient safety. However, critics argue that, if enacted, provisions in the bill will stifle free speech protected under the First Amendment, and may lead to overreaching government activities, including shutting down online pharmacies that are a safe lifeline of affordable prescription medication for American consumers. The bill raises an important topic for consumers: How do you find affordable medication online while staying away from dangerous counterfeit drugs?
Counterfeit drugs can hurt and kill those who take them. And, while the hard data is scant, experts agree that the Internet provides a channel for the sale of counterfeit drugs and some consumers fall victim to rogue online pharmacies that sell them. As AARP reports, due to the high prices of prescription drugs in the United States, millions of Americans go online to find affordable medication but in doing so put their health at risk. PharmacyChecker.com helps consumers identify websites that market and sell safe and effective drugs at an affordable price, and to avoid dangerous counterfeit drugs. Other verification services and trade associations also evaluate online pharmacies, but we believe our program is the most independent and useful for the American consumer. (more…)
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Canada, Counterfeit Drugs, Dr. Ram Kamath, Drug Prices, European Union, international pharmacies, Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, Online Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, pharmacychecker.com, save money, Senate Judiciary Committee, seniors, United States, Verification Program, VIPPS, Wal-Mart
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, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Aug 27, 2010 | Drug Prices
AARP, the leading advocacy group for America’s seniors, released a new study confirming that brand name drug prices were way up – 8.3 % higher on average – in 2009. These large increases occurred during a year when the consumer price index was actually down by .4% . The report also finds that over the past five years, brand-name drug costs have increased by 41.5%, during which inflation only rose by 13%. Noteworthy in this report is that its authors, responding to pharmaceutical industry critics who contested that prior AARP reports only looked at manufacturer prices, derived the current findings by calculating the average retail prices of over 200 popular brand name drugs.
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Tagged with: AARP, Drug Prices, health, pharmacychecker.com, phrma
