The letter below is an updated version of the one mailed on September 13^th.
September 13^th, 2010
Mr. John O. Jeffery
General Counsel
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
RE: White House meeting to discuss online pharmacies
Dear John –
We are the president and vice president of PharmacyChecker.com, the leading online verification company for U.S. and international online pharmacies. We learned recently of the White House meeting scheduled for September 29th intended to focus on “voluntary protocols to address the illegal online sale of counterfeit non-controlled prescription medication” (the “Meeting”).
The broader legal and policy issues affecting whether and when ICANN and its members should accede to government requests to deny or cancel domain name registrations is a very serious one for the future of the internet, and is generally beyond our purview. Our purpose is to set out for you and your members some considerations that should affect your evaluation of whatever may be presented at the Meeting. We request that you make this letter available to all members invited to or attending the Meeting. The letter is necessarily in summary form, and we would be pleased to provide upon request additional information that may assist you.
In accordance with its public position that it “does not control content” or “deal with access to the internet,” any ICANN protocols that prevent or remove internet access to people and companies should be undertaken only in the most egregious cases involving criminality, and then only after weighing the effects on the international user and business communities and the affected public, but not as a substitute for appropriate governmental action against alleged wrongdoers by the nation seeking the protocols.
“Illegal online sale of counterfeit non-controlled prescription medication”, the phrase used in calling the Meeting, is a hodge-podge of undefined terms, which should not be misapplied to sweep into its ambit an entire commerce in safe medications dispensed by online pharmacies pursuant to physician-written prescriptions, within and outside the U.S.
PharmacyChecker.com does not sell or offer to sell any products, prescription medications or otherwise, and has no ownership in or from any firm that does. It verifies the licensure and safe operation of online pharmacies that fill valid prescriptions with safe and genuine medications. Companies that meet our requirements are able to publish the PharmacyChecker.com seal on their websites and publish their pharmacy profiles and drug prices on our site, which is free for consumers to access.
As some of these pharmacies are based outside the U.S., they are able to sell genuine brand name medications at prices that are much lower than in the U.S., which unlike most other countries, does not set or negotiate drug prices. This commerce results in lower profit margins for pharmaceutical companies and reduced business for U.S. pharmacies, though both groups earn enormous profits notwithstanding. Not surprisingly, these major industries are allied in the effort to end this channel of prescription drug fulfillment. Sweeping protocols that would deny a place on the web for such pharmacies would be a misuse of ICANN and would have the effect of denying Americans access to safe, inexpensive medicine, adversely affecting public health.
Public statements by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President Joseph Biden, affirm that concern for public health is the central reason for government attention to online pharmacies. By that standard, denial to uninsured and underinsured Americans of access to safe and affordable medications would be harmful and counterproductive.
Laws in the U.S. relating to personal importation of prescription medication are, within our understanding, rarely, if ever, enforced. Individuals who import medicine for personal use are not, to our knowledge, prosecuted. The FDA’s internal guidance policy authorizes its personnel to use their discretion in permitting personal drug imports. The practice, to the extent it may contravene law, is effectively decriminalized.
Moreover, with respect to the inclusion of the term “counterfeit” in the Meeting notice, we note that pursuant to the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, “counterfeit” refers only to violations of trademark law [TRIPS 1994: Art. 51 n.14]. Peddlers and dealers of unregulated and counterfeit drugs should not be confused with reputable online pharmacies, wherever based, operating domestically and internationally, that sell genuine and regulated medications.
As to so-called “rogue pharmacies”, meaning those who provide substandard or unsafe medication, dispense without valid prescriptions, or who engage in identity theft, PharmacyChecker.com agrees that they should be shut down by any legal and proper means. Whether ICANN voluntary protocols, rather than government (or inter-government), including executive or judicial actions, are the appropriate means is open to question, but we have no interest in excusing or defending such “rogue activity” and would cooperate in any effort to deny them access to the public.
Finally, to support our basic position, we refer you to a very recent (August 13, 2010) study, called “Assessing Website Pharmacy Drug Quality: Safer Than You Think?”, published in a peer-reviewed journal, Public Library of Science One, without government, industry or online-seller sponsorship or funding. In the study, medications were purchased from 152 pharmacy websites. All those that had been reviewed and approved by either PharmacyChecker.com or the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy required prescriptions and sent genuine medications. Some which had not been so reviewed and approved did not.
We are advised that only ICANN and its members are invited to the Meeting but please let us know if we can be of assistance in any way.
Yours very truly,
Tod Cooperman, M.D., President
Gabriel Levitt, Vice-President
cc:
Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO, ICANN
Brad White, Director of Media Affairs, ICANN
Victoria Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Coordinator, White House
Andrew Kline, Senior Advisor, Office of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Coordinator, White House
Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging
Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Congressman John Conyers, Chairman, House Committee on the Judiciary
John Rother, Executive Vice President, Policy and Strategy, AARP
Jerry Flanagan, Healthcare Advocate, ConsumerWatchDog.com
Douglas Heller, Executive Director, ConsumerWatchDog.com
Congresswoman Nita Lowey
Congressman Henry Waxman

source~
http://pharmacycheckerblog.com/online-pharmacies-the-white-house-and-icann

ACT II..... Continues.

The LegitScript Blog

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

LegitScript Welcomes Agreement with eNom (DemandMedia)

Posted by LegitScript

LegitScript and eNom are pleased to announce an agreement (see link for full press release) by which LegitScript will assist eNom, a subsidiary of DemandMedia, in identifying “rogue” Internet pharmacies.

eNom, Inc., is the world’s largest ICANN accredited domain name wholesaler, and the second largest Domain Name Registrar, with over 8% of all domain names (estimate). LegitScript is the only Internet pharmacy verification and monitoring service recognized by theNational Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

As prescription drug abuse rises to become the second largest drug abuse problem in the nation, with a 17% increase between 2002 and 2009, LegitScript applauds eNom’s leadership in taking affirmative steps to ensure that its domain name registration services and/or hosting servers are not being used to facilitate the illicit sale of prescription drugs. LegitScript already has collaborative relationships with a number of other Domain Name Registrars, including GoDaddy and Directi, and other Internet companies such as Google.

“Rogue” Internet pharmacies engage in a variety of illegal and dangerous behavior, most of which can be described as falling into one of four categories.

The sale of a prescription-only drug without a valid prescription.
The sale of unregulated prescription drugs (e.g., in the US, those that are not FDA-approved and may include knock-offs with reduced potency).
The sale of prescription drugs without a valid pharmacy license.
Various types of fraud, ranging from never sending anything in the mail to the customer, to outright identity theft and credit card fraud.

From LegitScript’s perspective, one of the great things about this agreement is that it illustrates the evolving response of the Domain Name Registrar community to the problem of rogue Internet pharmacies. We encourage other Registrars to consider adopting similar Terms and Conditions and enforcement policies to identify websites engaged in the online sale of prescription drugs in a way that violates one or more of the categories above. (Typically, rogue Internet pharmacies violate at least three of the categories above simultaneously.)

As always, LegitScript encourages Internet users report a rogue Internet pharmacy to LegitScript (regardless of whom the Registrar is). As appropriate, if verified as “rogue”, the information is forwarded to appropriate law enforcement and/or Registrars, ISPs, and so forth for notification and/or investigation.

source~

http://www.legitscript.com/blog/142

I'm sure this is not the final act, stay tuned for the next chapter!

Taking rogue pharmacies to court

9/21/2010 03:42:00 PM

We work very hard to make sure that ads shown on Google provide useful information for our users. But sometimes we need to take action against ads that violate our policies, as when we block malware ads, or when we filed suit last year against “Google Money” scammers. This is especially true when it comes to advertising for products such as pharmaceuticals, which can be dangerous without the right prescription.

Like many online services, we have struggled with this problem for years. It’s been an ongoing, escalating cat-and-mouse game—as we and others build new safeguards and guidelines, rogue online pharmacies always try new tactics to get around those protections and illegally sell drugs on the web. In recent years, we have noticed a marked increase in the number of rogue pharmacies, as well an increasing sophistication in their methods. This has meant that despite our best efforts—from extensive verification procedures, to automated keyword blocking, to changing our ads policies—a small percentage of pharma ads from these rogue companies is still appearing on Google.

So this morning we filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against advertisers we believe have deliberately broken our rules. Litigation of this kind should act as a serious deterrent to anyone thinking about circumventing our policies to advertise illegally on Google. As we identify additional bad actors, we will add them to the lawsuit. Rogue pharmacies are bad for our users, for legitimate online pharmacies and for the entire e-commerce industry—so we are going to keep investing time and money to stop these kinds of harmful practices.

Posted by Michael Zwibelman, Litigation Counsel

source~

http://ht.ly/2KvOZ

"Our partnership with LegitScript provides us with a trustworthy source of information regarding the illegal sale of pharmaceutical drugs.”

I hope that is true ....But a couple things puzzle me, who decides what online pharmacies get verified and which one's do not? What list do you follow? "National Association of Boards of Pharmacy"... they are a few pharmacies shy of LegitScripts 327, and some they do have you don't even list in Legitimate LegitScripts List... aetna.com? Didn't get a chance to update yet? When do we get to see what eNom has? Should I just look it up on eHow?

""There are currently 44,854 "unapproved" pharmacies in our database – Internet pharmacies that we do not consider to be legitimate.""

46,113	pharmacy websites in our database
327		are legitimate
1,142		are candidates for approval
44,644		do not meet our standards

This is all interesting stuff, why can't everyday be like this? I didn't mean to interrupt. Please continue with the Drama!

@EQUITES

Online Pharmacies Verified VIPPS

LegitScript? Check online pharmacy legitimacy

Online Pharmacies, The White House and ICANN

LegitScript Welcomes Agreement with eNom (DemandMedia)

Taking rogue pharmacies to court

"Our partnership with LegitScript provides us with a trustworthy source of information regarding the illegal sale of pharmaceutical drugs.”