Patients are asking physicians about an article on the front page of the June 15th New York Times, in which some prostate cancer experts were quoted as suggesting that men 55 and older might be well advised to take finasteride (Proscar, and others) to prevent prostate cancer.

Some tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors are being promoted on the internet directly to the public for use in psoriasis (www.yahoo.com).

Health care professionals may be asked about lowvoltage electronic devices now being used to diagnose and/or treat a number of health problems. Most are galvanometers that measure skin resistance to an electric current. The FDA classifies "devices that use resistance measurements to diagnose and treat various diseases" as Class III devices that require FDA approval prior to marketing. None of the devices reviewed here has such approval.

Resmetirom (Rezdiffra – Madrigal), a thyroid hormone receptor-beta agonist, has received accelerated approval from the FDA for treatment of noncirrhotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with moderate to advanced fibrosis in adults. NASH has recently been renamed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Resmetirom is the first drug to be approved in the US for this indication.

Questions have been raised in the US press recently about the safety of Canadian drugs. The process of drug approval in Canada is similar to that in the US (D Paul, Int J Med Marketing 2001; 1:224). More than 90% of drugs available in Canada have also been approved by the FDA. Most of these drugs come from the same manufacturers as drugs in the US. Health Canada takes longer on average to release drugs than the FDA does; more than half the drugs discontinued for safety reasons by the FDA between 1992 and 2001 had not been approved for use in Canada (NS Rawson and KI Kaitin, Ann Pharmacother...

Bivalirudin is being promoted as an intravenous (IV) anticoagulant that can be used instead of heparin in patients with unstable angina undergoing coronary angioplasty.

Echinacea, a plant also called purple coneflower, is widely used as a dietary supplement for prevention and treatment of colds.

Fondaparinux (Arixtra - Organon Sanofi-Synthelabo), a synthetic analog of heparin, has been approved by the FDA for prevention of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after hip fracture surgery or knee or hip replacement.

Fulvestrant (Faslodex -- AstraZeneca), an estrogen receptor antagonist given intramuscularly (IM) once a month, was recently approved by the FDA for treatment of hormone-receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women with disease progession on tamoxifen (Nolvadex, and others) or another antiestrogen.

Alefacept (a le' fa sept; Amevive - Biogen) has been approved by the FDA for parenteral treatment of adults with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.