PharmacyChecker Blog

Helping Americans Get The Truth About Prescription Drug Savings
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Opposition Grows to Pharma-Funded Application by NABP for .Pharmacy to ICANN

More public interest and consumer groups are hopping on the bandwagon to defend online access to safe and affordable medication. As we reported a few weeks back, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to administer a generic top level domain called “.Pharmacy” (dot pharmacy). NABP proposes to block all online pharmacies that fill orders internationally to Americans from obtaining a website that ends in .Pharmacy, including ones that are safe and approved by PharmacyChecker.com.  NABP’s critics, identified below, view its application as an effort to curtail consumer purchases of lower cost medicine from outside the United States. One of their main concerns is  that  NABP’s application is funded by Merck and Eli Lilly – big pharma: a situation prone to major conflicts of interest.

To read more about this issue see our press release.

This NABP/ICANN issue can be very confusing so I offer the following explanation.  ICANN is a non-profit organization that governs the world wide web system of domain names, such as .com, .org., and .edu. For a long time the available suffixes, called generic top-level domains (gTLDs)  that could be used for website names have been limited. Last year ICANN opened up a process by which companies and organizations could apply to act as registry – administrators – for new names, such as .career, .casino, .charity, etc.  In theory, this could open up new opportunities for innovation and development over the Internet. However, a pharma-funded initiative to make the rules and govern the Internet in an area as critical as the distribution of prescription medication will serve only to protect business interests to the detriment of consumers.

David Moon from Demand Progress, an Internet freedom group and lead organization in battling the Stop Online Piracy Act, sums it up perfectly: “From our direct experience with NABP and its allies in Internet policy disputes, there is ample cause to believe the applicant seeks to control .pharmacy to the detriment of free speech & access to safe and affordable medication for consumers.”

Here is a list of the groups and people who have voiced opposition and concern about NABP’s application for .Pharmacy:

Canadian International Pharmacy Association (Tim Smith, President)

Demand Progress (David Moon, Program Director)

Knowledge Ecology International – KEI (James Love, Director)

Mature Voices Minnesota (Robert E. Hines, Board Chair)

PharmacyChecker.com (Tod Cooperman,  MD, President and Gabriel Levitt, Vice President)

Public Citizen (Peter Maybarduk, JD, Global Access to Medicines Program Director)

Ram Kamath, PharmD (PharmacyChecker.com, Director of Pharmacy Policy and International Verifications).

RxRights.org (Lee Graczyk, Lead Organizer)

TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com (Daniel Hines)

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Americans Speak Up in RxRights Video Testimonials About International Online Pharmacies

We applaud RxRights.org for its critical advocacy efforts on behalf of Americans who are struggling to afford prescription medication, including recent actions to defend the truth about safe international online pharmacies and savings. One new blog post features three video testimonials from Americans who import their medication, and another explains the facts about international online pharmacies. Check out Gary’s story:



First, Gary and the other Americans who offered testimonials should be commended for having the courage to speak up about ordering medication from international online pharmacies and discussing their drug affordability problems.

Gary orders his diabetes medication from Canada so he doesn’t have to forgo other needed household goods. He has been buying medication from Canada for many years and has “never had the first bit of problems.” But the drug companies – and even the FDA – will lead you to believe that this is dangerous! So why is Gary so comfortable using international online pharmacies?

Well, the other blog post gives us the answer: The only real difference between medications sent by mail from a licensed international pharmacy and what you can find in a neighborhood pharmacy is the cost. In fact, you can save between 50 and 80 percent by ordering online internationally and receive the same exact medicine!

To view the other testimonials, click here.

To read more facts about international online pharmacies, visit this post.

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Opposition Mounts to Control by NABP of “.Pharmacy” Web Domain – Seen as Threat to Consumers Seeking Affordable Medication from Pharmacies Outside U.S.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate the registry .Pharmacy (dot pharmacy). Opposition to the application is picking up steam. Many believe that NABP’s efforts will merely serve to protect U.S. pharmacy and pharmaceutical interests at the expense of the public health by barring competition from safe non-U.S., international online pharmacies, which sell the same prescription drugs sold in the U.S. at a much lower price. Not only is the NABP application to ICANN is funded by pharmaceutical companies, but NABP’s named “Partners” in the ICANN application include Eli Lilly, a large drug company and the National Association of Chain Drugstores, a trade association representing the largest American pharmacy chains.

Opposition to NABP’s application to ICANN for .Pharmacy Registry

Public Citizen Position on NABPs Application to ICANN for .Pharmacy

RxRights.org Position on NABPs Application to ICANN for.Pharmacy

PharmacyChecker.com Position on NABPs Application to ICANN for .Pharmacy

If given the power to oversee the registry for the .Pharmacy top-level domain, the NABP would decide which websites are permitted to use the .Pharmacy ending in their web address. It appears that the NABP’s proposed registry rules would prohibit registry to websites of safe international online pharmacies (such as websites run by licensed Canadian pharmacies) if they sell internationally to Americans. The lack of a “.Pharmacy” address by such pharmacies could frighten Americans away from using them. Considering that tens of millions of Americans don’t take medication due to high U.S. drug prices, discouraging or blocking access to affordable medication is unconscionable.

As recognized in a letter sent from RxRights.org to NABP, it does not have to be this way. The goal of providing a trusted marketplace for consumers who are searching online for safe and affordable medication can be served with a .Pharmacy website program. However, to provide the greatest benefit to consumers, ALL online pharmacies, U.S., Canadian, or otherwise, that sell authentic medication and require prescriptions should be eligible to obtain a .Pharmacy site, regardless of who they sell to. Unless the NABP agrees to adopt registry rules fostering an open and free Internet, one that maximizes access to safe and affordable medication, its application should be rejected by ICANN.

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