Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Illegal Online Pharmacies’
Impact on Legitimate Health
Care Businesses
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
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The handout for today’s presentation can be found at:
www.nabp.pharmacy/webinar
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Presenters
Justin Macy, PharmD, JD
NABP Digital Health
Senior Manager
Niamh Lewis, JD
NABP Digital Health
Regulatory Expert
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Justin Macy and Niamh Lewis declare that they do not have a current affiliation or
financial arrangement with any ineligible companies that may have a direct interest in the
subject matter of this continuing pharmacy education program (CPE) activity within the
past 24 months.
Additionally, NABP staff involved in the planning of this activity do not have a current
affiliation or financial arrangement with any ineligible companies that may have a direct
interest in the subject matter of NABP’s CPE Program within the past 24 months.
All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Agenda
• What is an illegal online pharmacy?
• What are illegal pharmacy affiliate
networks, and how do they operate?
• History of government enforcement
• Private actors respond to government
enforcement
• What does this mean for legitimate health
care merchants?
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What is an illegal online
pharmacy?
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Illegal online pharmacies commonly facilitate:
01. the sale of prescription-only medicine without
requiring a valid prescription.
02. the practice of pharmacy without required licensure
in all relevant jurisdictions.
03. the sale of medicine that has not been approved or
authorized for sale in the patient’s jurisdiction.
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
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How Big Is the Problem?
• There are between 30,000 and 40,000
illegal online pharmacies operating at
any one time, and 20 new illegal online
pharmacy sites are launched every day.
• Drugs sold by illegal online pharmacies
often contain too much, too little, or no
active ingredient; are manufactured in
unsafe conditions; and/or contain
unsafe materials.
• When shown an illegal website, 17.5%
of pharmacists believe the website is
legal based on the look of the web page.
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
What are pharmacy affiliate
networks and how do they
operate?
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
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Let’s see if we can
become an affiliate.
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
“This post will help
you get complete
information on the
Top Online Pharmacy
Affiliate Programs
2022 for Earning
High Commissions.
You can join these
affiliate programs and
make a good source
of income. ”
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Wow! What could
go wrong!?
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Simple reverse IP
address query for
rx-affiliatenetwork.cc
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bitcoin-rx.co
sells
controlled
substances
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
bitcoin-rx.co
ships worldwide
with full-fledged
customer service
operations
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Now let’s
look at
ls-online.in
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Unique
identifiers
connect the
dots
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Examples of government
enforcement
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Google AdWords
• Google settled case for
$500 million and admitted
wrongdoing.
• For perspective, at the time of
the settlement, Google’s
quarterly revenue was 25% of
what it is today, and their
market cap was 1/3 of today’s
value.
• Following this, all major
search engines required
accreditation of online
pharmacies for ads.
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Additional Government Action
• DOJ settled a case similar to
Google’s with UPS.
• FDA has issued ~70 warning
letters to illegal online drug
sellers
• FDA hosts online opioid
summits with internet
stakeholders to discuss ways
that the private sector can
help crack down on internet
traffic in illicit drugs
• FDA/NTIA engage in pilot
project with domain name
registries
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Private actors respond to
government enforcement
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Online Advertising Platforms Require Accreditation
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Payment Industry Adds Requirements
Both major card brands have adopted
additional underwriting requirements for
internet pharmacy merchants
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Every pharmacy is an “online pharmacy”
• COVID-19 changed the way we pay
• Visa/MasterCard have adopted rules
for “card-not-present” pharmacies (internet
pharmacies)
• Online advertising (eg, Google, Bing)
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What does this mean for
legitimate health care
merchants?
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Accreditation Is Required
• The .Pharmacy Verified
Websites Program is
NABP’s broadest, most
accessible accreditation
program
• A prerequisite for Digital
Pharmacy Accreditation
• The “seal of approval” is built
into the website’s URL
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What percentage of websites selling prescription
drugs online are estimated to be operating illegally?
1.
<30%
2.
30-60%
3.
60-90%
4.
>90%
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Which of the following statements is false: “Almost all illegal
online pharmacies ________.”
1.
Lack required licensure
2.
Sell drugs without a valid prescription
3.
Sell controlled substances
4.
Sell unregistered medication
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True or False: Most major online advertising platforms
prohibit pharmacies from advertising.
1.
True
2.
False
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NABP CPE Webinar – September 14, 2022
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Illegal Online Pharmacies’ Impact on Legitimate Health Care Businesses
Submit Your CPE Claim
1. Claim your CPE credit by signing in to NABP’s submission site:
https://nabp.pharmacy/claimcpe (case-sensitive)
NABP® and NABP
Foundation® are accredited
by the Accreditation Council
for Pharmacy Education as
providers of continuing
pharmacy education (CPE).
2. Click on the “Live CPE” tab
3. Select the webinar from the Live Meetings and Conferences list
1 contact hour (0.1 CEU)
0205-0000-22-062-L03-P
0205-0000-22-062-L03-T
4. Enter the session code provided on the next slide
5. Complete the course and speaker evaluations
6. Select the appropriate credit (pharmacist or pharmacy technician)
7. Enter your NABP e-Profile ID and date of birth and certify that the information is
correct
8. Click the claim button
Claims must be submitted by Sunday, November 13, 2022.
NABP does not submit CPE credit claims on participants’ behalf. Attendees must follow the steps
above by November 13, 2022, in order for the credit to appear in CPE Monitor®.
Questions about
submitting your claim?
Please contact
CPE@nabp.pharmacy
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Questions?
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Niamh Lewis| nlewis@nabp.pharmacy
Digital Health Team | custserv@safe.pharmacy
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