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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (6954)	2/9/1999 6:30:00 AM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Expect PFEr news coming from the ML conference today. labpuppy.com BigKNY3

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (6954)	2/9/1999 6:37:00 AM
From: BigKNY3	Respond to of 9523

FDA warns of dangers of some Internet prescriptions Reuters Story - February 08, 1999 21:07 By Lisa Richwine BETHESDA, Md., Feb 8 (Reuters) - Federal regulators are monitoring the "growing and significant problem" of people obtaining prescription drugs over the Internet from doctors they have never seen, a top Food and Drug Administration official said on Monday. Dr. Michael Friedman, FDA deputy commissioner for operations, said patients put their health at risk when they seek medications from doctors with whom they don't have a relationship. "On the Internet, we have a situation where there is self-diagnosis and self-medication with potentially hazardous prescription drugs, wrong situations, improper utilization and all sorts of dangers," Friedman told a meeting of health professionals. "FDA views this as a growing and significant problem." The FDA and other agencies monitor the Internet and have contacted some Web site operators to question their prescription practices, Friedman said. But he said the agency did not have the resources or authority to deal with the problem, which could be better handled by state licensing and medical boards. Selling prescription drugs over the Internet is legal, and several sites fill valid prescriptions. Friedman and other experts said they had no quarrel with patients who use the Internet to communicate with or get prescriptions from a doctor who has examined them and knows their medical history. They are concerned, however, that consumers may contact doctors listed on the Internet to get prescriptions for popular drugs like the anti-impotence pill Viagra after answering only a few cursory questions. Three state medical boards have taken action against doctors who prescribed Pfizer's Viagra over the Internet to people who were not their patients, said George Barrett of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States. One physician lost his license, another was told to stop offering the drug online, and a third was told to examine and follow up with people who bought the drug, Barrett said. The American Medical Association will likely announce ethical guidelines on Internet prescriptions soon, said John O'Bannon, a member of the AMA's Council for Ethical and Judicial Affairs. "The ethics are real simple," O'Bannon said. "You've got to have that (physician-patient) relationship to use this medium."