Getting medication in privacy is part of Internet appeal but
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Privacy as well as price apparently plays a role when shopping online for medications: Viagra and two other erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis and Levitra rank among the top 10 most sought-after treatments online, according to a new survey. This was true even though Internet savings on these drugs is less than on medications for acid reflux, bone density and cholesterol that also ranked in the top 10, according to Pharmacy.Checker.com, a New York company that helps consumers compare drug costs. Also among the most popular online pills: Propecia, a medication for male pattern baldness.n
Vice President Gabriel Levitt thinks the Internet's anonymity is a primary factor behind many consumers' choice to browse online for prices rather than visit local stores. "People don't want to be waiting in line and hear someone say, 'Hey, your Viagra is here,'" said Levitt, whose company certifies Internet pharmacies and offers consumers a Web-based price comparison tool that includes Canadian sites. But another factor may be that erectile dysfunction and hair loss treatments still are considered by many insurers to be "lifestyle" drugs that aren't essential to good health, Levitt said. As a result, many prescription plans don't cover them or allow only limited quantities. Dr. Jose Arrascue, president of the Palm Beach County Medical Society, thinks many Internet Viagra customers probably are older and already have talked to their physicians about the risks and benefits of ED drugs. "They have a prescription. Their question is: 'Where can I buy the medicine the cheapest?'" said Arrascue, a kidney specialist in Atlantis. Others may be younger men "who want to experiment with these drugs because they've been told it will make them a superman," said Arrascue. They may shop Internet sites selling pharmaceuticals that don't require prescriptions a practice that health officials say is dangerous. The new survey of consumers' online drug trends emerged as the Food and Drug Administration last week issued another warning about buying from unregulated Internet sellers. The FDA advisory was issued after an examination of foreign drug purchases found medications with potentially serious side effects were being ordered without a doctor's supervision. Low-cost generics of the same medications were available in the United States in 45 percent of the cases, the FDA found. "These Internet sites can go up and go down in one day. You never know what you're getting," said FDA spokeswoman Catherine McDermott. Consumer advocates said the new FDA report, and the survey's findings, highlight the significant risks patients can face when buying drugs online without first consulting a physician. Experts advise: Don't buy drugs without first consulting your doctor and receiving a prescription. Avoid online providers that don't have personal information privacy protections or licensed pharmacists available to answer questions. Buy from Internet sites licensed by government agencies or certified by a reputable source. Federal regulators also continue to urge consumers to use pharmacies based in the United States, rather than Canada or foreign countries, and that carry the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites Seal from the National Association of Board of Pharmacy. Reimportation of drugs from other countries remains illegal, though there were $211 million in Canadian Internet pharmacy sales to the United States last year, according to IMS Health market analysts. ED drugs may pose a particular risk, experts say. In a 2004 investigation, the federal Government Accountability Office purchased 68 samples of 11 drugs, including Viagra, from online pharmacies based in the United States, Canada and a variety of foreign countries. The 21 orders obtained from foreign-based sites, none of which required prescriptions, included two for Viagra that carried no dispensing instructions and no warning labels, the report said, even though patients on certain high blood pressure medications could have serious side effects if they take the drug. More than 30 million American men are estimated to be affected by ED. Viagra, the first ED drug, became a cultural phenomenon when it was introduced by Pfizer in 1998. Competitors Cialis by Eli Lilly and Levitra, from Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline, arrived accompanied by heavy national ad campaigns in 2003. But the Internet's share of the pharmaceutical market has not taken off as originally projected. Analysts at JupiterResearch, which monitors online technology's effects on businesses, estimates it remains at 5 percent, the same as with most products sold over the Internet as well as in brick-and-mortar stores. In 2003, Jupiter had predicted total online drug sales would rapidly go from $3.2 billion that year to $13.8 billion in 2007, but it's revising its forecast. PharmacyChecker, which started in 2003 and tracks the most popular pharmaceutical searches annually, drew its latest rankings from more than 500,000 searches for about 9,000 medications done during the first six months of this year. The cholesterol drug Lipitor was No. 1, followed by Viagra, which accounted for 20 out of every thousand searches. Cialis was third, Propecia seventh and Levitra eighth. Yet patients on an average save only about 35 percent by purchasing Viagra online vs. in a store, according to PharmacyChecker, which charts the lowest and highest prices of 30 featured Internet pharmacies. Those on Lipitor could get as much as 71 percent off. Other medications, in order of their ranking, that round out PharmacyChecker's top 10: the Advair diskus for asthma, Nexium for acid reflux, Fosamax for osteoporosis, the cholesterol drug Zocor, and Lexapro for depression and anxiety. Diane Lade can be reached at dlade@sun-sentinel.
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