State shuts down Las Vegas online pharmacy

Monday, Jan. 6, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas company that filled prescriptions for controlled substances over the Internet has been padlocked by the state Pharmacy Board officials who allege the company committed scores of violations of Nevada law.

A hearing on the 33-page state complaint against Prescriptiononline Inc. is set for Jan. 22 in Las Vegas. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has also issued a temporary suspension of the company's license.

Louis Ling, attorney for the state Pharmacy Board, said the major violation was that the company failed to verify that the doctor prescribing the drugs ever saw or examined the patient before writing the prescription.

Ling also alleged that the business violated record-keeping rules and did not have a license to conduct an Internet business, although it is licensed as a Nevada pharmacy.

Officials and attorneys for Prescriptiononline Inc. could not be reached for comment. Telephone calls to the company were answered by a recording and a message could not be left because its message system was filled.

Ling said Prescriptiononline sold 5 million units of drugs, mostly painkillers, in the past year. He said about 90 percent of the company's business was painkillers compared with the average industry figure of 15 percent.

The complaint, signed by the board's executive secretary, Keith Macdonald, said the operation of the business endangered the public health, safety and welfare of patients. It said the board conducted undercover purchases of controlled substances and dangerous drugs in December and that the only way to protect the public was to summarily suspend the license.

The complaint also named pharmacists Joseph P. Auralle and Julie J. Levitt. Auralle declined to comment on the complaint, and Levitt could not be reached for comment.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, in its suspension order, said that between March and September 2002 the company dispensed more than 1.5 million dosage units of controlled substances, 1.25 million of which were Schedule III hydrocodone products or painkillers.

In March 2002, the DEA secured a federal criminal search warrant and seized computerized controlled substance prescription records. Despite this, the pharmacy "continued to pursue its Internet scheme unabated," the suspension order notes.

The state closed the business Dec. 20 and changed the locks on its doors. Ling said he has the only key. The state agreed to withhold any announcement until the federal Drug Enforcement Administration issued a press release.

Nevada law says a doctor must physically examine a patient within six months immediately preceding the date on which he writes the prescription. Violation of the law is a felony. Ling said the pharmacy is required to verify that the doctor conducted the physical examination in person.

In the case of Prescriptiononline, Ling said a person may have contacted a doctor who advertised on the Internet. The doctor would then telephone the patient and conduct a short interview, usually less than five minutes, and then write the prescription and call it into Prescriptiononline.

Or the patient may have contacted Prescriptiononline, which then contacted a doctor who was under contract to the company. The doctor would conduct the interview over the telephone with the patient and then write the prescription.

All of these doctors were located outside Nevada, Ling said.

Ling said the business could lose its license and face fines as punishment.