NABP Grants First 'Approved e-Advertiser' Status to Pharmahelper.com, QC Supply, and Kerr Drug

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National Association of Boards of Pharmacy

Jul 28, 2010, 11:20 ET

Seal Demonstrates Commitment to Patient Safety; Approved Sites Eligible to Advertise through Search Engines that Require VIPPS Accreditation

MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill., July 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^® (NABP^®) has named Pharmahelper.com, QC Supply, and Kerr Drug as the first online pharmacy services to be approved through the Association's new e-Advertiser Approval(CM) Program now required by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. As such, these entities offer reliable and trustworthy resources for patients seeking to purchase medications safely online.

"NABP congratulates these three entities on meeting the comprehensive standards of the e-Advertiser Approval Program and on their dedication to the safety of patients using Internet pharmacies to obtain their prescription medications," states NABP President William T. Winsley, MS, RPh.

Pharmahelper is a comparison search engine for prescription medicine and requires all Internet pharmacies affiliated with its site to possess VIPPS^®(Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites(CM)) accreditation. QC Supply provides a range of commercial and agricultural products including vaccinations and over-the-counter products for both companion and food producing animals. Kerr Drug is a regional chain of community pharmacies whose Internet practice is limited to accepting prescription refill requests online from its existing customers.

Launched in April 2010, the NABP e-Advertiser Approval Program was developed to assist the search engines in their efforts to weed out rogue Internet drug outlets from their sponsored search results (ie, paid advertisements) and to accommodate the range of pharmacy-related entities seeking to advertise online. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! modified their policies earlier this year to require Internet pharmacy advertisers to be VIPPS accredited. As the gold standard among legitimately operating Internet pharmacies, VIPPS-accredited pharmacies have successfully completed the NABP accreditation process, which includes a thorough review of all policies and procedures as well as an on-site inspection of all facilities used by the site to receive, review, and dispense medicine.

Because the VIPPS accreditation program is structured to address licensed pharmacies engaged in a full range of defined pharmacy practices over the Internet, NABP developed the complementary NABP e-Advertiser Approval Program as a mechanism to ensure that advertisers offering limited pharmacy services or other prescription drug-related services online (that are therefore ineligible for the VIPPS program) are not engaged in illicit practices or affiliated with other sites that are.

To earn NABP e-Advertiser Approval, Internet advertisers must undergo and successfully pass a comprehensive investigation of their Web site and all affiliated Web sites to verify their compliance with standards for safe and legitimate practice. NABP Approved e-Advertisers are eligible to advertise through the search engines that permit only VIPPS-accredited Internet pharmacies to display sponsored links and are periodically reassessed to ensure their continued adherence to these standards.

More information about the NABP e-Advertiser Approval Program is available under Accreditation Programs on the NABP Web site at http://www.nabp.net.

NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its member boards and jurisdictions in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health.

SOURCE National Association of Boards of Pharmacy