Congress to weigh limits on Web sales

LEGISLATION to curb the growing sale of prescription drugs over the Internet without a valid prescription has been introduced by both House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) and ranking minority member Henry Waxman(D-Calif.).

The Internet Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act (HR 3880) would amend the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to address the problem of prescription drug sales over the Internet in three ways.

First, it would require pharmacy Web sites to display information identifying the business, physician and pharmacist associated with the site as well as the states in which they are licensed to prescribe or dispense prescription drugs.

Second, it would prohibit Web sites from referring customers to a doctor who writes a prescription without seeing the patient.

Third, it would give states new enforcement authority similar to that in the federal Telemarketing Sales Act, allowing state attorneys general to shut down rogue sites across the country.

The legislation, which has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, has been endorsed by the Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Community Pharmacists Association. -J.G.D.