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7 Replies Last post: Aug 8, 2008 3:30 PM by krishna

Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business

Aug 6, 2008 3:37 PM

Click to view krishna's profile Professional krishna 4 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
Hello Everyone,

Good Evening. I am new to this forum and would need your opinion/feedback/suggestion on this type of Business. I live in US and recently I came across a business propoal from person who lives in china, where he can ship the generic drugs to the US mailing address. For that he needs to have a US company and also need a marchant account to accept the credit cards. For that, he is offering me some percentage. I did ask him..about what kind of drugs you are going to ship and where and he gave me an example one..like ambient drug order for a US resident and for that customer, product will be shipped from china to US, but credit card trasaction will be done through the US company. Once US company gets funds, I need to transfer the funds. I feel something fishy, but wanted to check with you guys. I am trying to look is, is it legal to do that, if so, whom should I get in touch to have all the necessary formalities to make it legal..so that I don't need to worry about anything illegal. Please advice me.
Tags: online, pharmacy, business_start_up Report as inappropriate
Click to view LUCKIEST's profile SCORE LUCKIEST 7,935 posts since
Aug 6, 2007
1. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 6, 2008 5:40 PM
Advice on business proposal for online pharma business, Welcome

If you feel something is fishy, THEN IT properly is fishy.

Do you have a business?? Everybody in business should have a Lawyer.

Talk to your Lawyer, FAST. Your Lawyer will tell you if it legal

LUCKIEST
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Click to view prasadt's profile Start-up prasadt 2 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
2. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 6, 2008 5:56 PM
I would advice against buying drugs across US Borders and reselling over here in the US. There are a number of lawsuits pending against online drug resellers and the last thing you want is to get into a business which is fraught with lawsuits. The other point to consider is the idea of buying drugs from China. People are extremely sensitive when it comes to buying Chinese made drugs, especially since the recent product safety violations.

Prasad Thammineni
Pixily
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Click to view krishna's profile Professional krishna 4 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
3. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 6, 2008 10:43 PM
in response to: prasadt
Hello Prasad,

Thx for the advice. Just for my understanding, do you have any link or website where I can go through these lawsuits or any use ful info, that way I can educate myself and also others too..
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Click to view Lighthouse24's profile Mogul Lighthouse24 2,396 posts since
Oct 10, 2007
4. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 7, 2008 12:34 AM

About 20 percent of the prescription drugs sold in the U.S. are imported from China. About half of the ingredients that go into the prescription drugs manufactured in the U.S. are imported from China. (source: FDA and Washington Post) So that aspect is not, in itself, a problem (in my view).

Do you have successful background in import/export and/or in pharmaceutical sales? If not, that might be where the fish smell is coming from. Because (and I mean no offense) why would a legitimate exporter in China enter into a business arrangement with you (as opposed to someone who is already receiving, storing, packaging, kitting, and distributing product)? Or looking at it from the other side, why wouldn't an existing U.S. pharmaceutical importer or distributor be all over this if it was a great opportunity? Just something to consider . . .

Best wishes.
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Click to view prasadt's profile Start-up prasadt 2 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
5. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 7, 2008 8:28 AM
in response to: krishna
There is abundant of information on the web on imported drugs. Here is what I came up with just by searching on Google for online drug sales and lawsuits:

http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/News/drugsales.html

http://www.redherring.com/Home/22604

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=FED7AC764CFEE0AAC7392A5E87D03EEB?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkpdf&contentId=855488

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/9995/fda_widens_crackdown_on_imported_drugs/

Even if it is legal to ship across borders and the drugs are not fake, here are few things you would need to investigate:

Since you will be taking the orders, you need to be get a pharmacy license
If something happens to the individuals after they use the drugs, everybody in the supply chain including your firm will be held responsbile. Since the shipper is in China, you will be the only one that the consumers or the FDA will go after
You will not have control over the quality of the product as it is going to be drop shipped from China. Even large companies that import drugs from China, go to great lenghts to ensure that they have visibility into the entire supply chain - manufacturing, shipping, distribution and sales

The more important question you need to ask is whether there is a market for the drugs you plan to sell. Even if everything is kosher, will people buy the drugs from you.

Prasad
Pixily
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http://www.pixily.com

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Click to view krishna's profile Professional krishna 4 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
6. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 8, 2008 3:21 PM
in response to: Lighthouse24
Lighthouse24, thx for the reply..I did ask the similar questions and he told me that, he was doing with another person(who lives in US) via paypal and his account got locked due to chargebacks. Now he is looking for new account...My only worry is that. Is it safe to open a company in US and get a marchant account, so that he can process the orders and pay me a commision for using my company name and marchant account and what sort of company i should open and tell to the state/irs that, I am doing a tele-pharmacy orders....as you said..I don't have any prior import/export experience...
once again thank you.
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Click to view krishna's profile Professional krishna 4 posts since
Aug 6, 2008
7. Re: Need advice on business proposal for online pharma business Aug 8, 2008 3:30 PM
in response to: prasadt
Hello Prasad,

Thank you for your time and reply. I will definitely go through the links which you have provided.
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