Update to Pharmacy Policy in U.S. and Canada

We understand how important it is for users to be able to purchase pharmaceuticals online for themselves or for loved ones, and we've decided to update our Google AdWords online pharmacy policy. The change will go into effect towards the end of this month.

There are two main aspects to this change:

Only VIPPS and CIPA certified pharmacies will be allowed to advertise
We've made the decision to further restrict the ads we accept for online pharmacy sites in the U.S. and Canada. Starting at the end of this month, Google AdWords will only accept ads from online pharmacies in the U.S. that are accredited by the National Association Boards of Pharmacy VIPPS program, and from online pharmacies in Canada that are accredited by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA.)

Pharmacies can only target ads within their country
These pharmacies may only target ads to users in the country in which they are accredited. This policy change does not affect our online pharmacy policy for countries outside the U.S. and Canada.

Accordingly, we'll no longer be using any 3rd party verifier of online pharmacies other than VIPPS and CIPA. AdWords advertisers who aren't accredited by VIPPS or CIPA will no longer see their online pharmacy ads displayed once this policy change comes into effect

We'll post to this blog again once the changes go into effect towards the end of this month. For more information on our current pharmacy policy, please see this link: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7463.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew