Shy guys can now buy Viagra online and it’s the real thing.
on May 07, 2013 at 9:24 AM.
A quick look at today’s health news.
Syracuse, N.Y. — Men too embarassed to pick up a Viagra prescription at the pharmacy counter can now buy the little blue pill online.
Starting today, men can buy the impotence drug with a few clicks on Viagra’s website, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Pfizer, the drug’s maker, says it launched home delivery of Viagra to help patients looking to buy the pills online avoid websites selling counterfeits.
Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill online, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra’s steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one.
Pfizer’s bold move blows up the drug industry’s distribution model, according to the Associated Press. Drugmakers don’t sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices.
But the world’s second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry. Unscrupulous online pharmacies increasingly offer patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don’t realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription.
Viagra is one of Pfizer’s top drugs, with $2 billion in worldwide revenue last year. And it’s the most counterfeited drug in the United States, according to the company.
The Internet is filled with illegitimate websites that lure customers with spam emails and professional-looking websites that run 24-hour call centers. A January study by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which accredits online pharmacies, found that only 257 of 10,275 online pharmacy sites it examined appeared legitimate.
Experts say taking fake drugs purchased from these websites can be dangerous. That’s because they don’t include the right amount of the active ingredient, if any, or contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, lead paint and printer ink. They’re generally made in filthy warehouses and garages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Online buyers are “playing Russian roulette,” says Matthew Bassiur, vice president of global security at New York-based Pfizer.
Crooks running the illegal online pharmacies brazenly explain their ultra-low Viagra prices — often $1 to $3 a pill — by claiming they sell generic Viagra. But there is no such thing as generic Viagra. Pfizer has patents giving it the exclusive right to sell Viagra until 2020 in the United States and for many years in other countries.
3 million newborns die within first month: Despite progress being made in reducing maternal and child deaths, three million babies die within the first month of life every year, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children. Many of them just live a few hours. (VoiceofAmerica)
Docs tell older, heavy smokers to get lung cancer screening:
A leading medical specialty group issued new guidelines Tuesday recommending that doctors offer annual low-dose CT (computed tomography) scanning to people whose age and smoking history puts them at significant risk of lung cancer. (Reuters)
It’s mosquito time again in Onondaga County: The Onondaga County Health Department will begin its annual mosquito-borne virus surveillance and control program May 20. The program consists of collecting and testing mosquitoes for various viruses including West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. The program also uses larvicides to control mosquito population before the mosquitoes become breeding, biting adults. A list of pesticides that will be used along with their labels can be found on the Onondaga County website.
You can reach health writer James T. Mulder at [email protected] or 470-2245.
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Viagra For Sale In New York
