Google, Warned Ads from Illegal Online Pharmacies

Category: Internet

Google, Warned over Ads from Illegal Online Pharmacies

Written on May 24, 2011 by Adam Eve

Google reportedly receives a number of warnings from National Association of Boards of Pharmacy with regards to their advertisements from illegal online drug stores.

Documents shared with the Wall Street Journal pointed out that Google was repeatedly warned by the National Association of Boards and Pharmacies (NABP) that many of its advertising partners were illegal online pharmacies. Since 2003, NABP has been urging the search engine giant to accept ads from legal and verified drug stores only.

Later correspondence raised uncertainties whether Google’s advertising partners are legit. In addition to this, a letter from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse requested the company to ‘block all advertisements for controlled prescription drugs that do not come from licensed and certified online pharmacies.’ They also appealed that Google should ‘screen such sites from Internet searches.‘

USA federal prosecutors have been investigating Google’s acceptance of advertisement from illegal online drug stores, while the company has already set aside a $500 million war chest to settle the case.

Whether the search engine giant’s verification for legit online pharmacies were flawed, or they deliberately chose to ignore the issue, remains undisclosed. However, it its unlikely for Google to claim ignorance on the argument. And if a case is brought against them, then Yahoo! and Bing are also in trouble since they used the same flawed PharmacyChecker verification service.

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Tags: bing, Google, NABP, online drug stores, online pharmacies, PharmacyChecker, Yahoo

Gabriel Levitt

PharmacyChecker.com was not the online pharmacy gatekeeper for Google. Rogue pharmacies advertised on Google before working with PharmacyChecker.com and after it started working with VIPPS, according the WSJ article on which this one is based. There have been isolated cases of approved pharmacies changing their policies and websites. We have caught these and terminated them. PharmacyChecker.com was and is successful in following its program’s policies, which only permits safe online pharmacies in its program. We’ve addressed this head on in our blog: http://pharmacycheckerblog.com/u-s-inquiry-of-rogue-pharmacy-ads-on-google.

People covering and following this story should also be aware that the groups most actively critical of Google’s online pharmacy policy, including NABP, until its change in February 2011, are very much focused on preventing Americans from ordering online from safe online pharmacies, mostly based in Canada, that are a lifeline to uninsured Americans.

We fully support cracking down a rogue online pharmacies, a critical undertaking for consumer safety. But we also care about the public health crisis of non-adherence to prescription medication. In 2009, according to the CDC, 25 million Americans did not take their medication due to cost. As we stamp out the rouge online pharmacies, let’s also make sure we help Americans find safe and affordable medication online.

Gabriel Levitt
Vice President
PharmacyChecker.com
Anonymous

Wow…… it’s really good to know about Google’s this step against illegal online pharmacies. And the existing content and features are really looking awesome. And this one is really appreciative step by Google. I am really highly impressed by the Google’s step. Just mind blowing.