Google tightens policy on ads for online pharmacies
March 2nd, 2010 by 
David E. Williams of the Health business blog
Received this interesting tip from medical writer Brian Bujdos:
U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies may see a subtle spike in revenue due to Google’s revised policies that no longer allow Canadian pharmacies, as well as many “rogue” pharmacies to advertise on Google through AdWords. Now, only VIPPS-certified pharmacies (as selected by the National Association of Pharmacy Boards) can advertise on Google. To date, there are only 19 such pharmacies/companies, including Walgreens and Drugstore.com.
As you may know, AdWords allows any eligible party to purchase key words, and every time that a Google user types in those key words in their search, that party is charged X amount of money to have their paid link appear above, or to the right of, the regular/unpaid search listings.
There are two schools of thought as to why Google is making this change. The first is that the big pharma manufacturers and Google got together and tried to snuff out the “little-guy” online pharmacies. Other people believe that pressure from some mixture of associations, organizations and the government led to the change in Google’s policies – an effort based primarily on “cleaning up” the online pharmacy arena that includes pharmacies that dispense non-FDA approved, potentially harmful medications through sometimes unscrupulous methods.
Either way, U.S. consumers who use Google search are now forced to buy brand-name or generic medications manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical companies. The cheaper medications from Canada and other countries are no longer an option on Google. Other search engines may follow suit. For the complete story, check out the PharmacyChecker blog entry on AccessRx.com.
Posted in e-health, Pharma, Policy and politics | 
9 Comments »
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:16 am
[...] tightens policy on ads for online pharmacies http://www.healthbusinessblog.com/?p=3158 healthbizblog – Tue 02 Mar 14:11 previous next billgates [...]
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
They should definitely done that in order to tighten it as they say because online pharmacies now are not suited for one’s standard. If you want to consult your health. Please feel free to visit this : http://www.easyhealthMD.com. Have a nice day
March 7th, 2010 at 8:25 am
As a pharmacist that has practiced both in community and online pharmacies I commend Google for increasing restrictions – many online pharmacies are not legit, secure, or SAFE. For the BEST care for medicines use, please see your pharmacist in person (and definitely not self diagnose as implied by easyhealthMD)
April 14th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
“Either way, U.S. consumers who use Google search are now forced to buy brand-name or generic medications manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical companies.”
That statement isn’t correct. The only thing that changes is that the the yellow-highlighted advertisements at the top of the search results will no longer be populated by Canadian drug pharmacies. These pharmacies will still show up in the results underneath any other Google Adwords advertisements. This policy only affects ADVERTISEMENTS….not the SEARCH RESULTS.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:07 am
I will agree with Chris.
July 29th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I agree with Chris. Paid search results are only a part of the picture. We have a story about this on our blog, as well. <a href="www.interactivemd.com"
July 29th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I agree with Chris. Paid search results are only a part of the picture. We have a story about this on our blog, as well. InteractiveMD
May 13th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
[...] than a year ago I ran a post from Brian Bujdos about Google’s attempts to crack down on just the sort of activity they seem to be settling [...]
September 7th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Chris,
I wish google would have done something about SERP, not just Adwords. I think most of the spam results and scam victims come from there.