
NABP: Illegal drug sellers represent 97% of online pharmacy activity
Association is bidding to own and manage the .pharmacy domain name; a decision is expected this summer
The National Assn. of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP; Mt. Prospect, IL) has just updated its
Last June, NABP applied to the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to own and manage a new “generic top-level domain” (gTLD), .pharmacy. (TLDs are the phrase following the dot in a website URL, such as .com, .gov, .org, etc.; ICANN is in the process of allowing thousands of new TLDs to be specified.) gTLD owners pay a licensing fee to ICANN and need to be vetted by that organization. According to NABP, there has been some grumbling that NABP is taking on a global responsibility that might lead to US-based online pharmacies getting preferential treatment—but the international ICANN organization is itself amply represented globally (and would therefore be expected to account for multinational concerns). Moreover, NABP itself has affiliate relationships in other countries (notably Canada), and has sought and received support from several non-US organizations. Eli Lilly, Merck and about a dozen other pharma companies have ponied up several hundred thousand dollars to support NABP’s effort.
“Mindful of the international spread of unapproved, substandard, and counterfeit medicine, and the contributing role that illegal online drug sellers play, NABP it taking steps to establish an online space exclusively for legitimate Internet pharmacies and other trustworthy prescription drug-related organizations,” the group says in its latest report. The ICANN
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