The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it sent warning letters out regarding about 136 rogue Internet pharmacies. So far, over half of them have been shut down by the domain name registrars.
LegitScript’s review of these websites indicated that most or all are part of a network that goes by the name Rx-Commission. That network, as LegitScript told the Washington Post today, is illegal in several respects: it imports prescription drugs from outside of the United States; i... Read Full Story
At LegitScript, we’re excited about a new partnership with a great company called SiteJabber. Have you ever wanted to know what other people think about a website? Interesting in hearing about others’ experiences, both good and bad? Want to make sure that a website isn’t fraudulent, or have terrible customer service? SiteJabber.com is emerging as the premier Internet location for Internet users to rate websites, and identify those engaged in fraud or deceptive behavior.
SiteJabber’s mis... Read Full Story
The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department announced it arrested Michelle Blain-Dresser, who was the Pharmacist-in-Charge for Lake Arrowhead Village Pharmacy, aka villagemeds.com.
VillageMeds.com was the first rogue Internet pharmacy covered in our report about rogue Internet pharmacies participating in Yahoo’s online advertising program.
The report states:
A source close to the investigation explained that, during the search, over 55,000 pills were uncovered and seized from t... Read Full Story
Criminal affiliate pharmacy networks DrugRevenue (aka 33Drugs) and EvaPharmacy are emerging as major threats to Internet users and prescription drug safety, beginning to eclipse even well-known rogue Internet pharmacy empire GlavMed. Meanwhile, an as-yet unknown network that is possibly an outcrop of Meds-Easy is actively marketing dangerous controlled substances from Pakistan and other countries.
Both DrugRevenue and EvaPharmacy are affiliate pharmacy networks with hundreds (in the case of ... Read Full Story
LegitScript’s primary focus is on Internet pharmacies. However, today, the Houston Chronicle published an op-ed by LegitScript President John Horton talking about a related problem: the growth of the “celebrity-overdose club” from prescription drug abuse. Using Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson as examples, the op-ed says that prescription drug abuse figures “are alarming”:
Let’s put the figures in perspective. Remember the crack cocaine crisis of the... Read Full Story
One of the most important misperceptions about Internet pharmacies is that if a “Canadian Internet pharmacy” has been verified as possessing a Canadian pharmacy license, that it must be acting legally and safely, and that the drugs must be coming from Canada. After all, drugs “from Canada” are just as safe as drugs here in the United States, correct?
The truth is disturbing. First, to back up, let’s be clear that real Canadian pharmacies are generally just as sa... Read Full Story
The American Pharmacists Association released a statement today in support of LegitScript’s and KnujOn’s report on rogue Internet pharmacy Yahoo! advertisements.
The statement says:
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) applauds the efforts of LegitScript and KnujOn to bring attention to the threat posed to patient safety by sponsored search engine results for rogue Internet pharmacies appearing on the nation’s top Internet search engines. In a co-authored report enti... Read Full Story
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University have each released a statement regarding LegitScript’s and KnujOn’s report on Yahoo-sponsored rogue Internet pharmacy websites.
The NABP’s statement calls on Yahoo! and other search engines:
…to hold advertisers selling prescription medications accountable to the same laws and practice standards required of any legitimately operating pharmacy.
Th... Read Full Story
Today, we released another report, co-authored with Internet compliance guru KnujOn, detailing our concerns with search advertisements for rogue Internet pharmacies, focusing this time on Yahoo online advertisements. Our report indicates that more than 80% of Yahoo’s Internet pharmacy ads that we reviewed were operating contrary to US federal and state laws.
So, what did we find? Well, first, we indicate that we purchased prescription drugs without a valid prescription from Yahoo Internet ph... Read Full Story
Last week, we released a report with Internet compliance guru KnujOn.com about rogue Internet pharmacies in bing.com’s ad space. In the original report, we ordered a prescription drug from a Microsoft-sponsored advertisement that tested positive as counterfeit, and ordered prescription drugs without a prescription from other bing.com advertisements. The company subsequently announced that it had manually reviewed all pharma-related keywords to sweep out advertisers in violation of their... Read Full Story
