Confused about how to use our home page? LegitScript’s core functionality involves our “Pharmacy Validator,” a search engine on our home page that looks through the 600+ pharmacies in our database and returns information about the Internet pharmacy’s legitimacy.

We’ve tried to make it as intuitive as possible: if you want to check out drugstore.com, for example, you can type in either “drugstore.com” or “www.drugstore.com”. Or, let’s say that you get an email from linepharmacy.com. Typing that in will return information telling you that we’ve designated that Internet pharmacy as a “rogue” Internet pharmacy.

Why don’t we provide a list of the unapproved pharmacies? That’s because we don’t want to inadvertently provide a list to the public (including kids!) of Internet pharmacies that they could use to, for example, buy steroids or pain killers without a prescription. However, we do include those Internet pharmacies in our database.

If you have any suggestions about our Internet pharmacy validator, please contact us!

CNN has been doing a pretty good job of digging into the issue of “online consultations.” CNN’s article last week a woman whose husband died after overdosing on Soma, a drug acquired from an online pharmacy.

CNN got the issue right: it’s not that the drugs came from an Internet pharmacy, but that they were “prescribed” over the Internet when the physician had never laid eyes on the patient. That’s called an “online consultation”: all that you have to do is fill out a form. Pharmacies that fill prescriptions based only on an “online consultation” do not meet LegitScript’s Internet pharmacy verification standards.

Why are online consultations such a bad idea? There are several reasons:

1. Some drugs should not be used if you have a certain medical condition, and often the medical condition cannot be detected without a physical examination by a physician.

2. As in the case of Nancy Fitzpatrick, a doctor can evaluate whether the person has another issue, such as suicidal tendencies or other mental health issues, that need to be addressed professionally.

3. Some drugs should not be used with other drugs, and it’s simply better for the physician to ask in person what other prescriptions a person is taking — not inquire through a questionnaire.

4. Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem, and an in-person examination allows the physician to ensure that the patient has a real medical condition, and is not feeding a drug habit.

5. Most obviously, the physician can physically examine the person to find out the cause of the problem.

A good example: numerous rogue websites “prescribe” Viagra through online consultations. But one of the standard exams a physician will conduct in assessing erectile disfunction is a prostate exam, to ensure that cancer isn’t the cause. (It’s a little difficult to conduct a prostate exam over the Internet).

We’ll be watching CNN’s continued coverage of this issue over the coming days.

At LegitScript, we’re pretty excited. Last week, we launched our Internet pharmacy verification program. There’s nothing quite like it out there: a comprehensive database that allows consumers and businesses to determine whether an Internet pharmacy is legitimate or not.

Why are we qualified to determine which Internet pharmacies are legit? One reason is that our standards have been recognized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Why does that matter? Well, all pharmacies are regulated by state Pharmacy Boards, and the NABP collectively represents those pharmacy boards, so we thought it was pretty important to have the NABP review and approve our standards.

We’re starting off with the 15 pharmacies that the NABP has already approved as part of its VIPPS (Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites) program. But within a few months, we expect to add several other Internet pharmacies to our “approved” list.

Over the next few months, we’re going to be adding quite a bit of functionality to our website. However, we think that legitimacy is at the core of everything we’re trying to do. That’s why LegitScript was created — to help separate the good guys from the bad guys in the Internet pharmacy world.