| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : FEBRUARY 7, 2000 ISSUE | ||||||||
| ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| LEGAL AFFAIRS
Drugmakers: Could a Mouse Click Drag Them into Court? How's this for a drug company's legal nightmare? A man buys Viagra from an illicit online drug peddler, then dies during sex. An autopsy discovers that he had a heart condition--and should never have been allowed to use the medication. Lawyers scent blood. Knowing it's not worth suing the tiny e-drug merchant, they go after deep-pocketed manufacturer Pfizer Inc. for not keeping the drug from being sold through dubious channels. PROWLING. Is this hypothetical scenario far-fetched? Not necessarily. ''Industry is concerned that, if companies had knowledge that these drugs were being misused...they could be deemed negligent,'' explains Washington food and drug lawyer Marc J. Scheineson. That's why companies aren't sitting idly by. Pfizer declined to comment on its potential liability for drugs illegally sold online. But the company has been prowling the Web to find sites that offer Viagra. ''Once we learned of them, we contacted the medicine or pharmacy board in those states,'' says spokesman Andrew B. McCormick. That's a smart move. Given the liability threat, ''diligent companies should be monitoring the Internet and at least appearing to do something,'' says drug industry consultant Steven M. Weisman. Regulators wish that the drug industry would cut off distributors that sell to shady sites. Cynthia T. Culmo, of the Texas Health Dept., believes one reason they don't do so is the fear of losing extra revenue. As this issue continues to generate controversy, the drug industry is likely to feel at least some of the growing heat. By John Carey _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
|  |
 | |
RELATED ITEMS A Crackdown on E-Druggists TABLE: Dubious Medicine Drugmakers: Could a Mouse Click Drag Them into Court? INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
