Copyright 2000 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
January 3, 2000, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 18A
LENGTH: 511 words
HEADLINE:
Risks demand greater oversight
BODY:
When it comes
to online prescriptions, President Clinton is absolutely
correct in charging
that rogue Internet drugstores "pose a threat
to the health of Americans."
Such sites employ anonymous doctors
to write dubious prescriptions based on
unverified health claims,
then fill those prescriptions with a thin
conscience for a fat
profit.
The results can be fatal, as in the
case of an Illinois man with
a history of chest pain and family history of
heart disease who
died last spring after taking Viagra that had been
prescribed
online, without a physical exam.
Other perils include adverse
drug interactions and mismedication
stemming from a pharmacy's inability to
verify customer claims.
How can an Internet drugstore offering the
weight-loss drug Xenical
know whether the person claiming obesity isn't
instead anorexic?
Clinton is also correct when he suggests that the
existing safety
net against prescription error and abuse is inadequate to
regulate
Internet operators. Most online pharmacies are legitimate, but
the rogue sites operate well outside the reach of local and federal
regulations.
States can't control drugstore Web sites that
operate across state
lines. Nor can they regulate doctors who sign
prescriptions from
1,000 miles distant. Few have even tried, notable
exceptions being
California and Kansas.
Beyond that, a new and
highly touted industry program to certify
pharmacy Web sites is voluntary.
Federally, the Food and Drug
Administration has neither the power nor the
money to do much.
For these reasons, the White House last week
proposed strengthening
the FDA's authority over Internet drugstores, giving
it new subpoena
and enforcement powers and an extra $ 10 million to fund
them.
Online drugstores would have to show compliance with state and
federal rules. Selling drugs without valid prescriptions would
bring a
new $ 500,000 civil penalty.
Make no mistake: Not every online
drugstore is a problem. Many
provide convenient, low-cost alternatives to
time-pressed, cash-strapped
or homebound patients. But the proposed
requirements ought not
be too much work for legitimate operators. All they
have to do
is show that they are obeying state and federal laws.
Their unscrupulous brethren are another matter. Last fall, two
Pennsylvania physicians writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine
reported that the median cost of a visit to an Internet physician
was
16% higher than a visit to a general-practice physician in
Philadelphia.
Researchers also found that the median Internet
price for two commonly
prescribed drugs was 10% higher than in
local drugstores.
Plainly, rogue Internet pharmacies are gouging consumers as well
as endangering their health. And they get away with it because
the
existing state-industry regulatory structure is unable to
meet the
challenges of Internet prescriptions. This is a national
problem, and it
deserves a federal solution. OUR VIEW <>Online
prescriptions
<>Proposal would boost FDA authority
over Net drugstores.
LOAD-DATE: January 03, 2000 
