We’re nearing the end of the year, and many people are already in open enrollment for next year’s health coverage, which means it is a great time to plan ahead for your 2010 drug expenditures. No, you can’t know every medication you are going to need, but if you are on a popular, patented maintenance [...]

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As the 2009/2010 influenza season progresses, there is cause for worry. Flu activity is already widespread in 46 states, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the 2009 novel H1N1 flu virus, popularly known as the “swine flu,” is on the rise. Meanwhile, the swine flu vaccine is difficult to obtain, leaving many [...]

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A new blood-pressure treatment has come on the market that is of potential interest to hypertension patients whose blood pressure is not being adequately controlled with monotherapy.
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Novartis’ Valturna (aliskiren and valsartan), which combines in a single pill valsartan, the active ingredient in Diovan — the [...]

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A new paper in the scholarly journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution suggests that oral contraceptives may influence women’s choice of mates, with potentially enormous effects on their quality of life and their ultimate reproductive success.
Commonly used hormonal birth control methods such as Yasmin, Seasonale, Ortho Tri Cyclen, and Loestrin, while extremely effective at preventing [...]

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Millions of people suffer from severe, debilitating acne that does not respond to over-the-counter treatments such as acne washes and benzoyl peroxide, and even resists prescription antibiotics. Ongoing severe acne can cause physical effects such as pain, infection, and scarring, and social and emotional effects such as shame and low self-esteem. According to the Acne [...]

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Some people have very sparse eyelashes, and this can cause functional problems with the eye as well as anxiety about one’s appearance. Fortunately for people suffering from ” eyelash hypotrichosis,” a brand-new treatment was approved by the FDA in December 2008. The product is called Latisse, it has sultry-eyed Brooke Shields as a spokesmodel, and [...]

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