In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press on May 6, 2013, that it will sell erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website.William Vazquez/The Associated Press
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Here's what's making news this morning in the world of health and medicine.
Pfizer goes direct with sales of its 'little blue pill' Viagra
Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill. In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drug-maker will begin selling its popular erectile-dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website, reports CTV News.
Medical miracle saves millions
Two doctors, David Nalin and Richard Cash, have saved millions of lives after developing oral rehydration therapy to treat cholera patients, reports CNN.
Doctors writing prescriptions to get patients active
Canadian doctors are increasingly turning to prescriptions of exercise as a means to prevent and treat a host of illnesses. In Leduc, Alta., south of Edmonton, family doctors realized the authoritative impact of a physician's prescription. For a year, they've handed out "Prescriptions to Get Active" – complete with checkboxes for the intensity, duration and type of physical activity – to patients they consider healthy but at risk for obesity and chronic diseases, reports CBC News.
Family looking for answers after Alberta Hospital Edmonton patient dies
An Edmonton family is looking for answers after a patient at Alberta Hospital Edmonton died early Saturday morning. Lisa Goltman was a long-term patient at the hospital. In a statement released on Saturday, Alberta Health Services called her death "unexpected." An autopsy is scheduled for next week, reports CBC News.
Microimplant gives new hope to glaucoma patients
A cutting-edge procedure that involves implanting a tiny stent into the eye is giving glaucoma patients new hope, reports CTV News. Glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease caused by the build-up of pressure from excess fluid, is the second most-common cause of vision loss amongst seniors in Canada, according to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
Is nanomedicine the next big thing? A growing number of top drug companies seem to think so.
The ability to encapsulate potent drugs in tiny particles measuring billionths of a meter in diameter is opening up new options for super-accurate drug delivery, increasing precision hits at the site of disease with, hopefully, fewer side effects. Three deals struck this year by privately held Bind Therapeutics, together worth nearly $1-billion (U.S.) if experiments are successful, highlight a new interest in using such tiny carriers to deliver drug payloads to specific locations in the body, reports Reuters.
Young athletes continue to play through concussion symptoms, study shows
Despite the widely known risks associated with concussions, many U.S. high-school football players said they wouldn't report symptoms to a coach and would continue to play even if they had a headache resulting from an on-field injury, Medical Xpress reported via Fox News. In a survey of 120 high-school football players, 30 reported having suffered a concussion, and 90 per cent said they recognized the risk of serious injury if they returned to playing too quickly after a concussion.
The vampire 'cure' for baldness: Scientists inject patient's own blood into head to stimulate hair growth
Balding men would do almost anything to have a full head of hair, but the latest "cure" might be a painful step too far even for them. Scientists have been able to regrow hair on bald patches by injecting the heads of follicular-challenged volunteers with a solution from their own blood. Researchers believe the "vampire" treatment stimulates new stem cells below the skin, which can assist regrowth, reports The Daily Mail.