Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17229

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Google pharmacy ads
Pharmacy Daily 2010 Feb 12
http://www.pharmacydaily.com.au

Full text:

INTERNET giant Google has announced a “new, tougher stance” on advertisements from online pharmacies, which will see its sites only show ads from US and Canadian pharmacies in the countries in which they are accredited for operation.

The move, which is effective from the end of this month, may be significant for Canadian online pharmacies, many of which target US consumers with advertisements for drugs such as Lipitor, Plavix, Nexium and Viagra.

A financial analyst who covers the Google stock, Benjamin Schachter, said he believed there was “very likely regulatory pressure that influenced this change.”

Google said the policy change doesn’t affect its approach to online pharmacies for countries outside of the US and Canada.