Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Online pharmacy based in Las Vegas halts Web site
Prescription sales under federal investigation
By SEAN WHALEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas online pharmacy has ceased operation after a move by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to revoke its license to sell controlled substances.
The order of suspension for Prescriptiononline.com was necessary to protect public health and safety, the agency said in a news release dated Dec. 20. The company cannot resume operation until a decision is rendered.
The company has been registered with the DEA as a retail pharmacy since Oct. 27, 1999. The company operated an Web site that permitted any customer in the United States to request a consultation with a physician.
The company contracted with physicians around the country to conduct the "consultations," the drug agency news release said.
The customers would complete cursory, unverified medical histories on forms sent to the physicians, the DEA said. The physicians did not see or examine the customers. The physicians would issue a prescription for controlled substances.
The company would dispense the controlled substances through the mail after a $100 doctor consultation fee had been paid.
On March 7, the DEA served a criminal search warrant against the company. Among the items seized were prescription records.
Despite notification by the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy that state law prohibits a pharmacy from dispensing a prescription unless the pharmacist verifies a patient-physician relationship exists, the pharmacy continued to pursue its Internet operation, the DEA said.
The Pharmacy Board notification said such a relationship would be one in which a practitioner has physically examined a patient and has diagnosed a condition for which a given drug is prescribed.
But between March and September, the company dispensed more than 1.5 million dosage units of controlled substances, the DEA said.
The company could not be reached for comment Monday. Its Web site says only that it is temporarily off line.
