Lifeline
No doctor visit needed
While many Web sites sell drugs online illegally, one company called KwikMed offers consumers the option of buying certain medications — the erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis, Viagra, Levitra, the hair-loss drug Propecia, and the smoking-cessation drug Chantix — without ever seeing a doctor face to face.
Though KwikMed hopes to offer additional drugs in the future, these five drugs are the only ones that have been approved by regulators to date. The arrangement that KwikMed has reached with the Utah Legislature allows the company’s doctors to offer valid prescriptions through cyberspace; other states require that patients see a doctor in person, KwikMed says, before they can receive a prescription.
— U. S. News and World Report
Cure for HIV?
Doctors in Berlin, Germany, say they used transplanted blood stem cells — taken from the bone marrow of someone resistant to the AIDS virus — to cure a man with AIDS, the New York Times reports. But some American experts say they don’t see immediate practical use for this method.
The procedure may not be within reach for patients with health insurance being treated in prominent research hospitals, much less for the millions of Africans with HIV, the Times reports. The Berlin patient is a 42-year-old American living in Germany. The man also had leukemia, which served as justification for the stem-cell transplant.
Aspirin facts
The American Heart Association has long recommended aspirin therapy for people who’ve had a heart attack, stroke caused by blood clot, unstable angina, or “ministrokes.” The AHA also notes that even people who have not experienced such an event but who are at increased risk because of family history, say, may stand to gain from aspirin therapy. Still, this cheap, over-the-counter pill is not benign, and regular use should be discussed with a doctor.
Also, beware of marketing claims. Bayer was sent warning letters by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration in October for making unproved health claims about two products, Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin Plus Calcium (Bayer Women’s) and Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage (Bayer Heart Advantage).
— U. S. News and World Report
