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Why Google's Crackdown on Rogue Pharmacies May Actually Be Bad for U.S. Patients

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: September 22, 2010 / 2:42 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Google (GOOG)'s lawsuit against bogus pharmacies using its AdWords service sounds like a good idea -- who doesn't want to stop East European gangsters selling fake Viagra on the web? -- but one company says it's merely a plot by a Bush era White House operative to deny Americans access to cheap, legit Canadian drugs.

In fact, if Google succeeds in sweeping rogue pharmacies from its services the only online pharmacies Americans will have access to are the U.S. ones. That means Americans -- who pay more drugs that anyone else on Earth -- will be prevented from buying their prescriptions from legitimate pharmacies in Canada or Western Europe.

Given that the number of Americans without health insurance just hit 50 million, that can't be good.

Google's pharmacy policy restricts pharmacists to only advertising within their own country. Americans can't buy drugs from Canada, or vice versa, even if the drug store is legit and the product is cheaper.

Google is being aided in its war against online pharmcies by LegitScript, a company that advises web domain name providers on how to block bogus drug sellers. LegitScript has persuaded several of the major domain name sellers to follow its rules* enforce those companies' rules for blocking Canadian pharmacies from selling prescriptions to American patients:

Under pressure from security professionals, the internet governance group Icann and the White House, the domain-name seller eNom last week quietly retained LegitScript, a company that vets internet pharmaceutical concerns to make sure they are licensed to do business in the US.

... It [LegitScript] already has a similar deal to vet customers of GoDaddy.

Until recently, if you wanted to know whether an online pharmacy was a legit operation that required a prescription before dispensing real drugs, you could turn to PharmacyChecker. One of the differences between PharmacyChecker and LegitScript, however, is that PharmacyChecker gives a clean bill of health to Canadian sellers even if they have U.S. customers. Google and LegitScript's regime prevents that. Although not all LegitScript clients follow LegitScript's recommended standards -- some allow Canadian pharmacies to sell in the U.S. -- Google's rules are similar to LegitScripts: Canadian sellers aren't allowed south of the border.

PharmacyChecker notes that LegitScript's founder, John Horton, formerly worked in the Bush White House as deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. While at the ONDCP, Horton During his tenure, the ONDCP criticized PharmacyChecker for approving lawful Canadian web sites that sold drugs to Americans in violation of U.S. law. Tod Cooperman, president of PharmacyChecker, says:

... shutting down access by Americans to safe and affordable prescription medication is bad policy, unethical and unfair; and using government position and influence to get this done seems a misuse of power.

Of course, Cooperman is not an unbiased observer. Since founding LegitScript, Horton has signed up Google as a client -- a client that used to belong to PharmacyChecker.

*Correction: This item originally stated incorrectly that LegitScript persuaded various domain name sellers to follow its rules. In fact, LegitScript was retained to enforce those clients' rules, which may be different.
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Image by Flickr user Exothermic, CC.