Online pharmacies settle false claims charges with FTC.

Several online pharmacies selling Viagra and a few other prescription drugs have settled Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that they made false claims about their facilities, violated privacy and confidentiality promises, and informed customers they would be billed for services without their authorization.

The Web sites claimed that they had "full-service clinics" and "full-time staff" and that their doctors "network with an organization of physicians throughout the United States and internationally." However, the FTC said, the network consisted of one doctor in a distant state, and none of the online companies had a pharmacy on site. Instead, prescriptions were filled at local drugstores. Consumers filled out a medical history questionnaire and paid $75 for a medical consultation. The forms, according to the FTC, were faxed to a doctor who was paid a $10 fee if he approved a Viagra prescription.

About 11,000 customers were also sent e-mail messages that their credit cards would be billed $50 for"Y2K remediation," although it is illegal to charge a person's credit card without his or her authorization. The FTC charged the e-mail messages misrepresented that the Web sites had legal authority to charge consumers' credit cards.

In a statement, FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky and Commissioner Mozelle Thompson said the messages raised "significant concerns about the misuse of personal information. Further, these concerns are significantly heightened where medical and financial information is implicated."

The FTC also said that the sites misrepresented the security and encryption used to protect consumers' information and that they used the information in a manner contrary to their stated purpose.

The settlements bar the online sites from misrepresenting medical and pharmaceutical arrangements and from misrepresenting how they may use consumers' credit card information; stop the companies from selling, renting, leasing, transferring, or disclosing personal information collected from customers; require reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected; order a privacy policy to be posted on the Web site; and establish record-keeping provisions so the FTC can monitor compliance.

The settlements also bar the companies or anyone who works for them from operating any online pharmacy unless the name, business address, and phone number for the dispensing pharmacy are disclosed, along with information about the company selling the drugs and the physician who will prescribe the drugs, including the states in which he or she is licensed. The pharmacy site must also post a notice stating, "Dispensing a prescription drug without a valid prescription is a violation of federal law. More information on purchasing prescription drugs online is available at http://www.fda.gov."

These requirements are similar to those promoted by the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site (VIPPS) at http://www. nabp.net/vipps, which is sponsored by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The site certifies that an online pharmacy protects patients' privacy rights and meets the licensing and inspection requirements in the state where it is located and in each state to which it dispenses pharmaceuticals. (Internet Pharmacies: Who's Minding the Store? TRIAL, May 2000, at 12.)

The defendants include WorldWide Medicine, Inc.; Sandra and Philip Rennert of Las Vegas (linked to Worldwidemedicine. com); International Outsourcing Group, Inc.; Focus Medical Group, Inc.; Trimline, Inc.; Affordable Accents, Inc.; Worldwide RX, Inc.; PSRenn, Inc.; and Doctors A.S.A.P., Inc. The settlements, which don't constitute an admission of guilt by the defendants, were filed in Las Vegas in July. (No. CV-S-00-0861-JBR (D. Nev. July 6, 2000).)