Rogue online pharmacies often sell dangerous, substandard, and adulterated drugs, presenting a global public health threat. Last year, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) and its stakeholders saw the need to establish a .PHARMACY  generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) so that consumers have a way to identify safe and legitimate online pharmacies. In May 2013, the .PHARMACY gTLD  passed the initial ICANN inspection, and since that time, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacies (NABP) has been working toward operationalizing the domain.

Once operational, the new gTLD will be available only to legitimate online pharmacies and related entities located in the United States or other countries. Further, the Registry Agreement between the Association and ICANN will include a number of safeguards intended to protect consumers and the public health.

At this time, NABP continues to collaborate with coalition supporters in the development of the program. Next steps in the process include testing the gTLD, to ensure that NABP and its partners have the capacity to operate it in a stable and secure way. Additionally, NABP will work with various registrars to ensure that any online pharmacy that purchases the gTLD will be in compliance with the established .PHARMACY standards.

At CSIP, we are optimistic about this effort and hope that when the new gTLD is operational, that it will make a big difference in helping consumers identify safe pharmacy websites and avoid rogue online pharmacies.

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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 13 member companies have the shared goal of helping address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts.

This item was highlighted in CSIP’s May 2014 newsletter.