PharmacyChecker’s Antitrust Suit Inching Forward

Stephen Barrett, M.D.
August 9, 2022

A lawsuit that could lead to lower drug prices in the United States has been quietly moving through the courts. The suit was filed in 2019 by PharmacyChecker, which helps smart consumers find the lowest prices on prescription drugs among licensed international pharmacies.

Brand-name medicines often cost 80% to 90% less from licensed pharmacies in Canada and other countries than from pharmacies in the U.S. However, many online pharmacies are not legitimate. Since 2003, PharmacyChecker has operated a verification program that enables consumers to compare prices from the pharmacies it accredits. The PharmacyChecker Seal indicates that a website markets prescription drugs dispensed from a legitimate pharmacy [1]. I save thousands of dollars a year by obtaining drugs from online Canadian pharmacies that PharmacyChecker accredits.

Drug companies oppose personal importation from foreign pharmacies—not because of the quality of the drugs but to stifle competition. To cut costs, many companies buy their ingredients and make most of their drugs outside the U.S. Then they sell these drugs at very high prices in the U.S. and at lower prices in most of the rest of the world. They also fund programs that advertise that buying drugs outside the U.S. is unsafe; and they lobby the government to keep Americans captive to their U.S. prices.

The Antitust Suit

In August 2019, PharmacyChecker filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York that accused the  National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), LegitScript, and three alleged drug-industry front groups of conspiring to suppress market competition, artificially inflate the price of prescription drugs, and spread misinformation to frighten consumers away from foreign online pharmacies. The suit also alleged:

  • A hub of the alleged conspiracy is a blacklist—the “Not Recommended Sites” list—created by the NABP with a grant from Pfizer. NABP claims that these sites put people “at risk” and warns consumers to avoid them. However, in addition to dangerous, rogue pharmacy sites, the NABP list includes dozens of foreign sellers that PharmacyChecker has found to be safe.
  • The NABP, working through a co-conspirator, the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP), succeeded in convincing Google and Bing to penalize the “Not Recommended Sites” in their search results.
  • Two other co-defendants had a foundational role in establishing CSIP’s work: LegitScript (a competitor of PharmacyChecker that will not accredit pharmacies that ship to Americans from abroad) and the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP), an organization founded with money from LegitScript, the drug company Eli Lilly, and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
  • LegitScript and NABP do not tell American consumers about safe foreign pharmacies that sell to consumers in the United States.
  • The third named co-conspirator, The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), is a listed observer to ASOP, has deep ties to the drug industry, and has orchestrated a campaign against foreign drug imports and spread misinformation PharmacyChecker.
  • In 2018, the NABP added PharmacyChecker to its blacklist even though it is not a pharmacy, does not sell medicine, is purely informational, operates lawfully, and poses no risks. The NABP also added PharmacyChecker’s news blog site (www.pharmacycheckerblog.com) to the blacklist.
  • The results of blacklisting were devastating for PharmacyChecker and its users. For many years, the top results for “online pharmacies” in Google searches had included a link to PharmacyChecker’s directory of accredited online pharmacies. But those results were moved many pages down, virtually out-of-sight.
  • In July 2019, a WARNING box started appearing when users clicked search results for PharmacyChecker on Microsoft’s Bing, denying the link and directing users instead to information from the NABP, CSIP, and LegitScript [2],

PharmacyChecker’s suit is seeking a declaration that the defendants violated antitrust laws, an end to the anti-competitive acts identified in the complaint, and an award of three times actual damages plus attorneys fees, costs, and post-judgment interest.

Court Actions

In September 2019, following oral arguments, the New York court denied PharmacyChecker’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would require NABP to remove PharmacyChecker’s website and blog from its Not Recommended Sites [3]. In October 2019, PharmacyChecker filed an amended complaint that described additional actions by the defendants to attack the its reputation and that of the pharmacies it accredits [4].

In March 2021, the court largely denied defendants’ motions to dismiss, concluding that PharmacyChecker’s allegations were sufficient for the case to proceed against all of them with one exception. The court granted dismissal to LegitScript on jurisdictional grounds, but not on the merits [5]. In January 2022, the judge granted PharmacyChecker’s request to transfer the LegitScript case to the U.S. District Court in Oregon. In July 2022, the Oregon court denied LegitScript’s motion to dismiss [6].

PharmacyChecker is represented in the suit by Aaron Gott of Bona Law PC, an antitrust law firm with offices in San Diego and New York

References
  1. PharmacyChecker verification program: Standards, guidelines,m and inspection verification for pharmacy accreditation.  PharmacyChecker.com website, accessed Aug 9, 2022.
  2. Complaint. PharmacyChecker.com LLC vs. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy snd others. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Case No. 7:19-cv-07577-KMK, filed Aug 13, 2019. 
  3. Opinion and order. PharmacyChecker.vs NABP and others. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Case No. 7:19-cv-7577-KMK, filed Narch 30, 2021.
  4. Amended complaint. PharmacyChecker.vs NABP and others. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Case No. 7:19-cv-7577-KMK, filed October 21, 2019.
  5. Opinion. PharmacyChecker.vs NABP and others. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Case No. 7:19-cv-7577-KMK, filed March 30, 2021.
  6. Opinion and order. PharmacyChecker vs. LegitScript LLC. U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Case No. 3:22-cv-00252-SI, filed July 11, 2022.