<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<h2 class="posttitle">
<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</h2>
<h2 class="posttitle">
<title></title>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="LibreOffice 3.5 (Linux)">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
@page { margin: 2cm }
H2 { margin-bottom: 0.21cm }
H2.cjk { font-family: "Droid Sans" }
H2.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Hindi" }
P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm }
-->
</style>
<h2 class="western" style="font-weight: normal"><font size="3">US
pharma industry takes up new levers to control global trade in
medicines. (Dont be surprised if sale generic drugs is
suppressed and medicine price soars). parminder<br>
</font></h2>
</h2>
<h2 class="posttitle"><br>
</h2>
<h2 class="posttitle"><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ip-watch.org/2014/07/21/can-the-dot-pharmacy-new-generic-domain-name-be-impartial/?utm_source=IP-Watch+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f51d53bf4b-DAILY_SUMMARY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b78685696b-f51d53bf4b-352131825">http://www.ip-watch.org/2014/07/21/can-the-dot-pharmacy-new-generic-domain-name-be-impartial/?utm_source=IP-Watch+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f51d53bf4b-DAILY_SUMMARY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b78685696b-f51d53bf4b-352131825</a>
</small></small><br>
</h2>
<h2 class="posttitle">Can The Dot Pharmacy New Generic Domain Be
Impartial? </h2>
<p>By <a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/author/catherine/"
title="Posts by Catherine Saez" rel="author">Catherine Saez</a>
and <a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/author/william/"
title="Posts by William New" rel="author">William New</a>,
Intellectual Property Watch</p>
<p>New generic top-level domain names seem set to be a constant
source of discussions and dissension. The domain “.pharmacy” has
been awarded to a United States pharmacy association with industry
backing, stirring concerns among civil society and others. But the
association insists it will work in an impartial manner to ensure
safety of online pharmaceutical sales. <span id="more-36801"></span></p>
<p>The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) announced
in June that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) decided upon NABP becoming the registry operator
of the new “.pharmacy” domain.</p>
<p>This “will soon provide a means for identifying safe online
pharmacies and resources,” <a
href="https://www.nabp.net/news/nabp-executes-registry-agreement-with-icann-for-pharmacy-domain--2">according
to NABP</a>, which adds that under the agreement with ICANN, the
new generic top-level domain (gTLD) “will be available only to
legitimate online pharmacies and related entities located in the
United States or other countries.”</p>
<p>The pharmacy gTLD is expected to be launched by NABP by autumn
2014.</p>
<p>However, according to Gabriel Levitt, vice-president of the
company <a href="https://www.pharmacychecker.com/">PharmacyChecker.com</a>,
the main funders of the NABP application are Eli Lily, Merck and
Pfizer, as shown on NABP “<a
href="https://www.nabp.net/programs/pharmacy/pharmacy-and-nabp/coalition-support">coalition
support</a>” web page.</p>
<p>The NABP application for the .pharmacy domain has been challenged
in the past at ICANN by several groups, such as <a
href="https://gtldcomment.icann.org/comments-feedback/applicationcomment/commentdetails/12145">Public
Citizen</a>, <a
href="https://gtldcomment.icann.org/comments-feedback/applicationcomment/commentdetails/12168">Knowledge
Ecology International</a>, and the <a
href="https://gtldcomment.icann.org/comments-feedback/applicationcomment/commentdetails/12174">Canadian
International Pharmacy Association</a>.</p>
<p>According to Levitt, NABP “is apparently going much further than
just creating rules for online pharmacies” as it “will also decide
which companies, advocacy groups and other entities – such as
those advocating policies to expand access to affordable
medications – can obtain the .pharmacy domain ending,” he said.</p>
<p>“NABP will become a global ICANN registry, dominated by an
American pharmacy board association, funded by the big three drug
companies,” he alleged.</p>
<p>In a <a
href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/applicants/23may13/gac-advice-response-1-1040-55064-en.pdf"
target="_blank">response</a> [pdf] to the ICANN Government
Advisory Committee (GAC), the NABP sought to settle concerns,
arguing that it is “an impartial professional organization that
supports the state boards of pharmacy in creating uniform
regulations to protect public health,” and that it will work
through an advisory committee with members of the pharmacy
community to develop standards of operation for all domain
registrants. </p>
<p>The vast majority of websites currently selling pharmaceuticals
online are doing so illegally, the response states. </p>
<p>“NABP plans to operate .PHARMACY in line with [its] core mission
of promoting public health and patient safety,” and will operate
it using a “tightly controlled registration policy” restricting
second-level registrations to the domain to licensed pharmacies
and “prescription drug-related entities that are in good standing
and in compliance with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions in
which they dispense, ship or sell medications and that agree to
conduct business according to all standards of operation.” </p>
<p> </p>
<br>
</body>
</html>