"Overture cleans up its drug ad policy"

Must be a licensed pharmacy to buy ads now.

[werty]

Overture Services has stopped selling search-related advertising to unlicensed online pharmacies, in response to concern about illegal drug sales over the Internet.

[news.com.com...]

Discussion when yahoo dropped pharmacy ads. [webmasterworld.com]

[mfishy]

This happened last week, as anticipated.

Will Google be next?

[HughMungus]

That's odd. Wasn't one of the online pharmacies that was busted by the feds in Florida licensed?

[mfishy]

Yah, the press really screws up these stories. Of course they were licensed.

[benne2jp]

Most brick and mortar pharamcies that fill for OP's are licensed in their state, but not in every state in the U.S. Some states say that, if you serve customers in their state, you have to have a license their (CVS, Rite Aid, etc usually comply with this law).

[yintercept]

I understand that states require the pharmacists to be licensed. Much of law was written before the interstate mega chains. I understood that most states considered the licensing of the individual pharmacists was more important than the shop.

The pharmacists I know have to go through procedures to get licensed in a new state when they want to move. As it is rare for a pharmacist to work at two different stores in two different states, there really hadn't been any compelling need for interstate licensing. So I would expect to see big differences in state laws.

[pharm_boy]

Overture pretty much just did a hatchet job on all things pharmaceutical. They hope to have a policy of what's okay sometime in the first quarter of '04...

I personally think it stinks, but as Affiliate Manager of an OP program with a lot of hard working affiliates recently dumped from Overture, my opinion may be biased...

The next question is what happens to remaining ad budgets left in limbo? Will Overture refund previously deposited funds or charge their minimums on accounts suddenly lacking all listings?

Sorry all. I'm just a bit fed up. Our industry has had a serious black eye for a while now and the recent rise in spam for Hydrocodone/Vicodin has only made matters worse.

I think the industry will come out the other side, changed and a bit more mature, but still here. Industry and law makers need to start working together though. This witch hunt is doing more harm than good...

My $.02 anyway...

Eathan

[Chris_R]

This witch hunt is doing more harm than good...

Compared to other witch hunts that do good?

just kidding...

Media Witch hunters should be quick to point out, but usually aren't that tons of americans get prescriptions every day from their doctor without ever seeing them.

Over prescibed medicines such as antibiotics are often what is prescribed - with no exam or tests ever done. I can get a prescription over the phone without usually even talking to a doctor.

None of these are frowned upon by the media - but you put the word internet on it and people think hakers and child molesters.

[hawk]

Are there any decent PPC's except overture and findwhat?

[pharm_boy]

The Blair Witch project did good for what it cost to make...

hawk, Google Adwords (without the content stuff) can be pretty good - better than FindWhat and not quite as good as Overture.

[nakulgoyal]

Yes. I have a pretty long list of PPC's. As for the good ones, I would say the ones who drive ligitimate Quality traffic for your website are good for the price you can afford. :-)