I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 840
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the 
sale of prescription drugs through the Internet, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia (for himself, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. 
LYNCH, and Mr. WEINER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with 
respect to the sale of prescription drugs through the 
Internet, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ryan Haight Internet 
Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. INTERNET SALES OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of the Federal Food, 
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 351 et seq.) is amend-
ed by inserting after section 503A the following section:
‘‘SEC. 503B. INTERNET SALES OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. 
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING INFORMATION ON 
INTERNET SITE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person may not dispense 
a prescription drug pursuant to a sale of the drug 
by such person if—
‘‘(A) the purchaser of the drug submitted 
the purchase order for the drug, or conducted 
any other part of the sales transaction for the 
drug, through an Internet site; 
‘‘(B) the person dispenses the drug to the 
purchaser by mailing or shipping the drug to 
the purchaser; and 
‘‘(C) such site, or any other Internet site 
used by such person for purposes of sales of a 
prescription drug, fails to meet each of the re-
quirements specified in paragraph (2), other 
than a site or pages on a site that—
‘‘(i) are not intended to be accessed 
by purchasers or prospective purchasers; or 
‘‘(ii) provide an Internet information 
location tool within the meaning of section 
231(e)(5) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 231(e)(5)). 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—With respect to an 
Internet site, the requirements referred to in sub-
paragraph (C) of paragraph (1) for a person to 
whom such paragraph applies are as follows: 
‘‘(A) Each page of the site shall include ei-
ther the following information or a link to a 
page that provides the following information: 
‘‘(i) The name of such person. 
‘‘(ii) Each State in which the person 
is authorized by law to dispense prescrip-
tion drugs. 
‘‘(iii) The address and telephone num-
ber of each place of business of the person 
with respect to sales of prescription drugs 
through the Internet, other than a place of 
business that does not mail or ship pre-
scription drugs to purchasers. 
‘‘(iv) The name of each individual who 
serves as a pharmacist for prescription 
drugs that are mailed or shipped pursuant 
to the site, and each State in which the in-
dividual is authorized by law to dispense 
prescription drugs. 
‘‘(v) If the person provides for medical 
consultations through the site for purposes 
of providing prescriptions, the name of 
each individual who provides such con-
sultations; each State in which the indi-
vidual is licensed or otherwise authorized 
by law to provide such consultations or 
practice medicine; and the type or types of 
health professions for which the individual 
holds such licenses or other authorizations. 
‘‘(B) A link to which paragraph (1) applies 
shall be displayed in a clear and prominent 
place and manner, and shall include in the cap-
tion for the link the words ‘licensing and con-
tact information’. 
‘‘(b) INTERNET
SALES
WITHOUT
APPROPRIATE 
MEDICAL RELATIONSHIPS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), a person may not dispense a prescription 
drug, or sell such a drug, if—
‘‘(A) for purposes of such dispensing or 
sale, the purchaser communicated with the per-
son through the Internet; 
‘‘(B) the patient for whom the drug was 
dispensed or purchased did not, when such 
communications began, have a prescription for 
the drug that is valid in the United States; 
‘‘(C) pursuant to such communications, the 
person provided for the involvement of a practi-
tioner, or an individual represented by the per-
son as a practitioner, and the practitioner or 
such individual issued a prescription for the 
drug that was purchased; 
‘‘(D) the person knew, or had reason to 
know, that the practitioner or the individual re-
ferred to in subparagraph (C) did not, when 
issuing the prescription, have a qualifying med-
ical relationship with the patient; and 
‘‘(E) the person received payment for the 
dispensing or sale of the drug. 
For purposes of subparagraph (E), payment is re-
ceived if money or other other valuable consideration 
is received. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not 
apply to—
‘‘(A) the dispensing or selling of a pre-
scription drug pursuant to telemedicine prac-
tices sponsored by—
‘‘(i) a hospital that has in effect a 
provider agreement under title XVIII of 
the Social Security Act (relating to the 
Medicare program); or 
‘‘(ii) a group practice that has not 
fewer than 100 physicians who have in ef-