The Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP Global), a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. with activities in U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia, is dedicated to protecting consumers around the world, ensuring safe access to medications, and combating illegal online drug sellers.
Founding Principles
- Patients deserve access to safe medicines
- Illegal online drug sellers peddle unsafe medicine and often violate the law, regulations, and pharmacy standards required by countries to which they advertise and ship products
- Illegal online drug sellers are a global problem that requires national and global solutions
- Local, national and international governments, health industry stakeholders, Internet intermediaries and non- governmental organizations all have a role to play in protecting patients from illegal online drug sellers
- More education is needed to alert consumers, providers, governments and companies that up to 97% of Internet drug sellers are not compliant with applicable law
- Cooperation and commitment are essential; we all must work together to protect patient safety
- Governments should take meaningful and appropriate actions to protect patients from illegal online drug sellers
- Legitimate manufacturers, health care professionals, and licensed pharmacies should continue to caution patients against purchasing their medication from unknown and/or illegitimate sources
- Internet intermediaries should take legal and appropriate voluntary actions to stop illegal online drug sellers from using their services to endanger patient safety
ASOP Global supports:
- Legal voluntary actions by Internet intermediaries to protect patients from illegal online drug sellers, which may include terminating service, locking domain names, increasing the Internet visibility of legitimate online pharmacies as compared to non-legitimate online pharmacies, and otherwise refusing to do business with illegal online drug sellers
- Boosting NABP-approved online pharmacies in natural search results
- Adoption and use of the .pharmacy top-level domain (operated by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in collaboration with international regulatory authorities and the community) as a way to indicate that a pharmacy is a legitimate, law-abiding online pharmacy and a safe choice for patients
- Increased government oversight on the issue and enforcement against illegal drug seller websites, the Internet drug criminals behind them, and the Internet intermediaries who facilitate them
- ICANN enforcement against Domain Name Registrars who fail to take action against website operators who violate laws and regulations in applicable jurisdictions. These jurisdictions include (a) the jurisdiction from which the website ships drugs; and (b) the jurisdiction to which the website ships or offers to ship drugs
- Enhanced data collection by health regulators and law enforcement authorities about the quantity of drugs that are entering their market as a result of illegal online drug sellers, consumer behavior that contributes to use of these sites, and adverse events related to Internet drug sellers
- Strong penalties for criminals who peddle counterfeit, falsified, substandard, adulterated or misbranded medicine via the Internet
- Laws and policies requiring all online sales of prescription medicine to require a valid prescription that is consistent with the applicable laws in that country and applicable medical standards of care
- Laws and policies requiring transparent and accurate disclosure of information related to any online pharmacy website, including the location, contact telephone number, and pharmacy licensure information of the dispensing pharmacy, and the website owner/operator
- Establishment of national portals for consumers and Internet entities to use to determine which online pharmacies comply with applicable laws
- Laws that provide a safe-harbor for Internet intermediaries for their good faith attempts and actions to prevent illegal online drug sellers
Mission
ASOP Global is dedicated to addressing the growing public health threat of illegal online drug sellers through strategic efforts around the globe, concentrating its activities in research, education, Internet commerce company voluntary actions, and policy and advocacy.
How We Accomplish Our Mission
ASOP Global provides stakeholders a unified voice to engage relevant governmental administrative agencies and enforcement authorities; raise awareness with policymakers; develop credible data and information; educate health care providers; raise awareness about the role Internet commerce stakeholders (e.g. ISPs, search engines, domain name registrars), financial transaction entities, and other entities can play in protecting patient safety; develop policy solutions and principles for voluntary actions for Internet commerce companies; and collaborate on advocacy efforts internationally with critical partners.