500 rogue on-line pharmacies closed down

LegitScript, an on-line pharmacy certification program, which is endorsed by the USA's National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, has arranged for nearly 500 illegal Internet pharmacies to be closed down, while certifying about 185 outlets as meeting baseline standards for legitimacy and safety. The firm, which does not receive funding from the pharmacies it monitors, works with web site domain registration companies to ban rogue traders.

John Horton, LegitScript's president, told the Marketletter: "one of the products we offer is market research regarding the on-line pharmaceutical industry." He added: "one drug might be [over-the-counter] in one jurisdiction and Rx-only in another, and that's something that we look at very carefully. Let's use anabolic steroids as an example: illegal without a prescription in the USA, but I believe that many are legal to purchase in Turkey. If a web site is only marketing to the country where it's legal, then we have absolutely no problem it. We have seen a very small number of those."

The web sites LegitScript has had terminated, however, do not just include the USA (and usually Canada, European countries, Japan, etc) as selectable countries for the purchase order, but the USA will be the default or even the only option to select. Mr Horton said: "even if the web site operator is operating out of a country where the drugs are legal OTC, there's no question that the entire business strategy for that web site is to sell to the USA or countries where it's illegal," instead of limiting sales to jurisdictions where the products can be legitimately sold. He added: "the reverse is [also] true: we're in the process of getting some sites shut down that are operating out of the USA (technically legal under our laws), but selling to another country in violation of that country's laws. We hold those sites to the same standard."