How Do Illegal Online Pharmacies Get Away With It?

With the news of Google banning ‘rogue’ and illegal online pharmacies from their AdWords program, many people are wondering, “how do these illegal operations get away with it?” A simple Google search for “online pharmacy” reveals about 21,000,000 results. These are the ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ search results, which Google does not regulate or restrict. Let’s just look at the first few pages.

At the top of the list are large, corporate pharmacies, which can provide fulfillment for a traditional prescription. These are known brands, like CVS and Walgreens. They are the online equivalent of your neighborhood pharmacy. They can fill your legitimate prescription, which you obtained from your doctor.

Further down the list, things get more interesting. Claims include, “No prescription needed,” “Our doctors will review your information and write you a prescription,” “generic,” and “US Doctors and US Pharmacies.” These claims, taken together, could easily appear to be legitimate. But, let’s take them apart, and see how these sites can make these claims, when ONLY KwikMed and its affiliates are licensed to prescribe in the US.

1. “No Prescription Needed” – This is obviously against US law. These sites are ALL overseas. Try to find a mailing address on the site. If there is one at all, they are usually small island nations… Cyprus, The Seychelles, The Caymans. Either they are selling real products illegally, or they are selling a fake, generic or herbal version. These are not FDA-approved, and probably do not work like the authentic original medicine.

2. “We will write you a prescription” – KwikMed is the only company licensed to prescribe online in the US. Other sites that claim to do this legally, are doing it under the jurisdiction of another country (if they are legal at all). This may be a technical loophole in the law, but you always take a risk when ordering from foreign jurisdictions. The FDA does not regulate or monitor medications that are distributed abroad.

3. “Generic / Herbal” – There are no legal generic or herbal equivalents to the medications we prescribe. All such products are illegal to produce or sell in the US.

4. “US Doctors & US Pharmacies” – There are a few operations that look very legitimate. They seem to operate in the same manner as KwikMed. An online consultation is reviewed by a US-Licensed doctor, who generates a prescription. Again, KwikMed is the only company licensed to do this. So, how do they make this claim? Check the location: Maybe the Cayman Islands, or Cyprus… they may be US-Licensed Doctors, but they are NOT working under US law. They may not even be located in the US, but they skirt the law, and then transmit a foreign-made prescription to a pharmacy in the US.

5. “Brokerage” or “Escrow” – some sites seem to have found a loophole where they take an order, and forward it to an illegal site somewhere else in the world. Since they are not actually fulfilling the order, or ‘selling’ the medication, they claim to be legal. They only provide a ‘brokerage’ or ‘escrow’ service. This may be legal for them to do, but the end result is still an illegal order, from an unregulated, unlicensed operation.

How is KwikMed different?

1. We are located in the US. Our business operations are in Scottsdale, AZ.

2. We are US, state-licensed, authorized and regulated to provide a prescription for certain medical conditions, based on an online consultation.

3. This online consultation was developed by a team of US-Licensed and US-domiciled physicians.

4. Independent research at a major university has concluded that KwikMed’s online medical assessment is safer and more effective for treating certain specific medical conditions than when a patient visits a physician in a more traditional face-to-face setting.

4. This medical history is reviewed by a US-located, state-licensed doctor, and only then might a prescription be granted.

5. If appropriate, a prescription is sent to our fully licensed and regulated pharmacy, in Utah.

6. Prescriptions are filled with 100% authentic, FDA-approved, original-manufacturer medications, sourced from major, US-based distributers. We can provide the pedigree of our pills, to verify authenticity and safety.