from the one-pill-two-pill-red-pill-blue-pill dept.
Viagra will be sold over-the-counter for the first time:
Men will no longer require a prescription to obtain the impotence drug Viagra and will instead be able to buy it over the counter at pharmacies.
The decision by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency follows a public consultation. It will be up to pharmacists to judge whether men over the age of 18 can safely be sold the little blue pills.
Manufacturer Pfizer hopes to get stocks of Viagra Connect (sildenafil 50mg) into UK pharmacies by spring 2018.
Related: News About Pfizer's Most Popular Pill
NOTE: Knowing this story was about to get posted, I took it upon myself to update a couple of site filters to allow use of the words 'viagra' and 'sildenafil' in user comments. Unfortunately, that revealed a bug in code we inherited from slashcode and which caused the site to be unable to accept any comments. I should have tested the changes with a test comment, but was pressed for time to push out a few stories into a nearly empty story queue while hurrying to get out the door. I had successfully used the same technique on other filters in the past, so I have no idea what went wrong with this time. But that's neither here nor there. The site was unable to accept comments after the change (about two hour's time). I apologize and will be more mindful of trusting the site's code in the future! --martyb
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The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has been buying Viagra, in a good cause: it seems to help beat one of the common malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum.
The mechanism is even analogous to Viagra's better-known effect: it makes infected red blood cells stiffer, which marks them down to be cleaned out by the spleen.
The full journal article is available at PLOS Pathogens: cAMP-Signalling Regulates Gametocyte-Infected Erythrocyte Deformability Required for Malaria Parasite Transmission.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:11AM (10 children)
Fix for Brexit depression in local population? Trying to get some international trade/medicine tourism after they get out EU? /s
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:15AM (6 children)
Viagra enables rape couture (easy access clothing). British economic /stimulus.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 30 2017, @06:34AM (5 children)
You are right about the stimulus, you are wrong about the reasons.
That's a true economic stimulus, AD 2014 style: the Brits to account drugs and prostitution against their GDP [theguardian.com]
I don't know if it's currently still correct, but based on TFA topic it may still well be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:24PM (4 children)
Why would you include illegal gains in your GDP? Are those included in Central and South American countries? I would hazard a guess that some of those would be "worth" quite a bit more, if those numbers were included. Unless you have drug sellers and prostitutes reporting on their yearly income, there's no way to come up with an accurate number. Or am I missing the, we're the Tax Revenue Service, we know everything that's going on. We just don't tell the police?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 30 2017, @06:32PM (2 children)
It is economic activity, after all.
Money goes from Peon the bank, recorded.
Money goes from bank to Banker, recorded.
Money goes from banker to whores and dealers, not recorded.
Money goes back to bank from pimp, recorded ...
What's the point of leaving a gap in the middle ? Objective assessment of the flow of money is better served by acknowledging all of it, whether you like it or fight it.
Now, the age-old problem: you lower the GDP if you marry your maid, but don't raise it when you divorce her and pay support. Will the UK raise its GDP by counting all interpersonal money flows, including giving allowances to your kids?
(Score: 2) by massa on Friday December 01 2017, @11:49AM
I don't know if you are kidding or not, but the "marrying your maid" thing has your answer: (IIRC my microeconomics classes) interpersonal, intrafamilial, money donations do not add to the total value. It makes no difference if you buy a PS4 (or a pair of sneakers) for your kid or if he buys it with his allowance. You /may/, however diminish the total savings of the household.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday December 01 2017, @05:26PM
Again, assuming, random pimp guy, is putting tons of money in the bank and not declaring taxes. How would that not be detected and get him arrested for tax evasion? Good old Al Capone, is just one example of how money can definitely bring someone down. I was just pointing out that they must be doing some serious speculation in order to include it in the GDP. How could it be even remotely accurate? It just seems crazy to include an inherently unknowable number with the GDP. Unless I'm missing something that makes the money trackable, but the criminals untraceable?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 30 2017, @08:35PM
Looks good to the bottom line and is an argument for reelection?
Why would one expect arguments of other nature from politicians?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @01:41PM (1 child)
The older people voted overwhelmingly to leave. The younger people who voted to remain and have erectile dysfunction should stop drinking soy lattes.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:24PM
Soy isn't dangerous to men, I'm told, so you can stop worrying about your precious bodily fluids, and the dispensers thereof. I, on the other hand, need to be careful, because too much of the phytoestrogens can do bad things to a person's ovaries. It's not the soy lattes that are hurting our menfolk, okay?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 30 2017, @03:54PM
The problem is getting those drugs back into your country when returning home. Maybe a British Dr. could write a prescription for them, and you buy them over the counter in Britain. But that still might not sufficiently pleasure your own customs and border agents.
Also, the drug isn't necessarily going to be cheap just because it is OTC.
It is easy enough to ask your own primary care doctor for such a drug. If you're really lucky, your insurance covers the prescription.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:30AM (1 child)
Wonder what this will do to the animal population as more of the chemical runs out of the sewer system. Someone made a documentary on what it does to the human population: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Water_(film) [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @02:24PM
Perhaps they'll have a good time.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:47AM (4 children)
Fully Engorged Anglo-Saxons, just bleeding running about? Will no one think of the sheep, then? Oh, the Hugh Maaaaaaaaanity.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:55AM (2 children)
Groan. Those types of drugs will kill.
I told all of you how they worked years ago. But you won't listen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @06:37AM (1 child)
Bloody Red Pillars of Sexual Bliss and Overstimulation. How are you not dead, yet, Ethanol_fueled? Inquiring minds want to know! (Although, really, we do not actually want to know. Just knowing that it is happening, without us actually have to witness the entire penile engorgement explosion. . . . That's enough. Poor Donkey.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by takyon on Thursday November 30 2017, @06:46AM
NSFW: This is the secret to Ethanol-fueled's survival [amazon.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @01:45PM
Don't worry, It'll just make them taller.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @03:31PM
I guess it was no longer possible to blackmail people using the drug. There should never be prescription requirements for any drugs except a few. Travel is not so hard, and people will find everything in other countries. Let them have anything they want. Try not to babysit them.
It was a political decision to let the people buy dick raising medicines. Imagine the horror if anyone took it without getting permission from the proper authorities first!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 01 2017, @01:31AM
In the US, prescription drugs are covered by insurance (and by state-funded Medicaid where applicable) but OTC meds are out-of-pocket. This may save the government significant money.