The US Justice Department announced yesterday that Google INC would be paying $500 million for allowing Canadian pharmacies to advertise through its Adwords program in the US. In an effort to avoid criminal prosecution and to retain a good “moral” image, Google willingly surrendered this tremendous sum of money to the Justice Department. This is by far one of the largest payouts ever made to the US government.
Sale of these controlled substances in the US is illegal, since there is often little or no government regulation in the country of origin. The US Justice Department found that Google was aiding the Canadian Pharmacies in selling both regulated and unregulated medications online. Many of these medications are completely unregulated, since they are shipped directly from overseas, and often from third world countries where the government has no quality assurance or regulations regarding their production.
In 2009, Google made a number of compliance changes in an attempt to prevent the illegal sale of pharmaceuticals in the US. This included requiring all online pharmacies to be certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practices Sites program. This association regulates online consultations with doctors and the prescriptions they provide. Most notably, it does not certify Canadian online pharmacies.
Google also hired an independent company to analyze and test their screening measures to assure they weren’t being compromised by these pharmacies.
In a sign of good faith and morality, Google had already pulled the advertisements and had
ceased allowing Canadian pharmacies to advertise through them. However, these corrective measures were found to be too little and too late, as they had already drawn the watchful eye of the Justice Department. Their decision to settle the issue was a wise one, as a criminal conviction could blemish their good image, and could also render them ineligible to bid on government contracts in the future, which is a major source of profit for the company.
“The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of American consumers,” said Deputy Attorney General Cole. “This settlement ensures that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history.”
Google signed an agreement stating it understands that it improperly assisted Canadian online pharmacy advertisers to run ads which targeted the US consumer base. It has fully accepted responsibility for this mistake, and has agreed to a new set of strict compliance regulations to assure that this never happens again in the future.
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