Selling unlicensed and counterfeit drugs lands Tooting man with 3 year prison sentence

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy cannot stress this enough; crime does not pay. Maybe it will pay initially, in the form of illegal gains made from unsuspecting customers, but criminals will inevitably always get caught and stopped dead in their tracks.

This has been proved truer than ever this week with reports that a man from Tooting has been heavily sentenced after being found guilty of importing and selling unlicensed erectile dysfunction medicines, hair loss medicines, and money laundering.

The 47-year-old man was handed a sentence of 3 years in prison for money laundering offences, in addition to 12 months for selling unlicensed medicines, with the 2 sentences to be served concurrently.

The man had previously admitted his guilt relating to offences under medicines, trade mark and money laundering legislation at Southwark Crown Court on 13th May.

After Investigators from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) conducted an investigation into the man  – known as ‘Paul K’ – they found clear evidence that ‘K’ had laundered more than £114,000.

‘K’ was found to be the main culprit in a massive conspiracy to receive and supply unlicensed medicines and spread the illegal funds from this endeavour around the UK.

MHRA officials had successfully seized dangerous unlicensed and counterfeit drugs in 2011 and 2012, which resulted in a painstaking operation to trace ‘K’ and the group he was leading.
MHRA’s Head of Enforcement, Alastair Jeffery said:

“This case shows how organised criminal networks use sophisticated methods to import and supply counterfeit medicines from overseas.

The group conducted an international operation to make money from unregulated products, and laundered over a hundred thousand pounds in the process.

We have tirelessly tracked and monitored the group, demonstrating our determination to prevent them from recklessly endangering the safety of others.

Unlicensed products are a serious safety risk to the public, and you should not let criminal enterprises play the lottery with your health. Visit your GP if you need treatment, and obtain prescription and pharmacy medicines from a legitimate high street store or online pharmacy.”

8 Tips for Boosting General Health and Wellbeing

On the whole, Britain has been basking in glorious sunshine now for the last month – except for the odd few typical days of British heavy rain. With summertime usually comes a nationwide health kick. Perhaps it is to fit into those skimpy healthy clothes and look better on the beach, or maybe the sun just improves peoples’ moods to the extent that it provides a motivational spur to change lifestyles for the better.

Whatever it is, summertime is commonly the time of the year when people make positive changes to their general health, whether it be dietary or simply getting out the house more and going for walks in the sunshine.

With this in mind, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy have decided to run through some tips for improving general health and wellbeing, which everyone can use as a starting point for long-term health benefits.

. Become more active

Great weather means more people will have the urge to get out the house and move about. Keeping fit and active is great for your waistline and general appearance, but exercise is great for the heart too. Previous studies have suggested that 7 in 10 of us are not engaging in physical activity and thus are increasing the risk of heart disease. Keeping active helps to lower blood pressure; a risk factor for heart disease, boosts good HDL cholesterol that is responsible for moving fat away from arteries and back to the liver for processing, and will help to improve circulation by stopping blood clots from forming which can cause a heart attack or stroke. A brisk walk for 30 to 40 minutes completed 3 times each week should ease cardiovascular risk.

. Consider a Mediterranean diet 

The Mediterranean diet has repeatedly been linked to huge health gains such as ideal for weight loss, reducing the risk of cancer, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as being beneficial for the skin with various anti-aging boosts.

The diet is usually comprises of a daily consumption of plenty of fruit, vegetables, beans (legumes), grains, pasta, olive oil and nuts. It also contains moderate amounts of chicken and fish, with a small amount of red wine allowed as this has been shown to boost the health benefits of the diet, helping to thin the blood safely while providing its benefit through the antioxidant resveratrol.

. Cut down on salt intake

A diet high in sodium can lead to serious health problems. Sodium increases blood pressure as it causes the body to keep hold of excess fluid and blood volume increases, creating an added burden on the heart with increased pressure in the arteries. It is generally recommended that an adult should not consume more than 6g/1 teaspoon of salt each day. Certain foods are high in hidden salts and you should try to limit how much of them you eat. These include: baked beans, canned vegetables, cheese, crisps, pizzas and ready meals.

. Drink more water

Everyone needs to be getting 6 to 8 glasses of fluid per day and water is an essential part of your diet as well as being an incredibly healthy and inexpensive way of quenching your thirst. It contains zero calories or sugar, meaning it will not damage the teeth. Try to avoid empty calories from fizzy drinks, energy drinks or juices with added sugar. Not everyone enjoys plain water, so try sparkling water or add a slice of lemon or lime, or adding no-added-sugar squash.

. Eat plenty of fruit and veg 

It’s recommended that we eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg per day, comprising of a wide variety as they contain different combinations of vitamins and minerals. Fear not though, it is actually easier than it may sound. Merely a 150ml glass of unsweetened 100% fruit juice or smoothie counts as 1 portion, with vegetables cooked into dishes – i.e. into bolognaise sauce – can also count. Chopping up fruit to put on top of your morning cereal is another quick and easy way to bolster fruit intake.

. Get enough sleep

Past studies have shown that the gap between getting just enough and too little sleep may have a negative impact on a person’s health, mood, weight, and even their sex life. The majority of adults require about 7 to 8 hours of good quality sleep each night, on a regular schedule. Those finding it hard to get enough sleep should alter their routine to accommodate for sleep. It isn’t just important to get a certain number hours of sleep, the quality of sleep is vital too in order to feel rested when you awake.

. Limit alcohol intake

Drinking more than the recommended units of alcohol per day (3-4 for men, 2-3 for women) can have a detrimental impact to your heart health. Excessive alcohol can raise the quantity of a type of fat in the blood known as triglycerides and also lead to abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke and obesity. Excess weight may then even cause type 2 diabetes. For those concerned that they are drinking too much and want to reduce their alcohol intake, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy can provide alcohol dependency treatment Selincro (nalmefene) to suitable patients.

. Stop smoking

Smoking damages the lining of the arteries, limiting the space for blood to travel through. The carbon monoxide in cigarettes also reduces the amount of oxygen able to get to the heart and other areas of the body, forcing the heart to work much harder to supply the body with the oxygen it requires. The dangers of smoking are further explained on the British Heart Foundation’s website, but remember that smokers are at double the risk of suffering a heart attack compared to those that have not previously smoked, and smoking is the primary reason for a wide range of different types of cancer. Smoking cessation treatments such as Champix can help people quit smoking for good and reduce the risk of cancer and major heart problems.

We hope these 8 tips get you on the road to a healthier lifestyle which will both boost your energy, but also cut the risk of developing serious health problems in the future. Obviously, there are countless ways to improve health and wellbeing, but at Medical Specialists®, we believe that sustaining these 8 factors are particularly vital for your long-term general health.

British men warned about buying dodgy and dangerous fake Viagra online

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy have worked tirelessly for many years to warn men about the dangers of buying cheap and potentially fatal fake Viagra pills, both online and from that dodgy geezer down the pub.

If price is the concern with men, it need not be anymore! Since Pfizer’s Viagra patent expired in 2013, other drug manufacturers can now produce ED treatments that contain Viagra’s active ingredient, sildenafil. To put it into context, prices of generic sildenafil from Medical Specialists® work out from as little as £1.54 a tablet through an online consultation, and just £1.35 if the patient already has a private prescription ready to send to the pharmacy.

Therefore, there is no excuse for following the lead of one 36-year-old man from Herefordshire, who last week spoke to the Daily Mail Online about his “horrible” experience as a way to warn other men about the dangers of buying inexpensive and fake Viagra pills online.

The countless warnings the Manchester-based pharmacy has given over the years – such as describing the filthy environment the pills are produced in and listing some of the toxic ingredients sometimes added to the ingredients of the counterfeits – has therefore been validated with the unfortunate male featured in the Daily Mail.

The low price of these poorly made knock-off erectile dysfunction (ED) tablets might appeal to people in a day and age where money is tight, but why put your life at risk for the sake of a few quid?
Another reason why men might be driven to buying cheap impotence pills online – on top of some money saved – could possibly be the potential embarrassment of speaking to a doctor about problems ‘down there’.

There is no reason to be afraid of speaking to a GP though, he or she will have previously spoken to thousands of men suffering with similar issues and it will be nothing new to them. Erectile dysfunction is a very common condition, especially prominent in older men. Furthermore, around half of all men between the ages of 40 and 70 will have it to some degree.

Of course, there are obviously men who will flat-out refuse to see a doctor face-to-face and fortunately there are genuine online pharmacies out there such as Medical Specialists®, who provide online consultations where men can answer a series of medical questions and have this reviewed by a GMC-registered doctor. The doctor will assess the patient’s suitability for that particular drug using the answers provided, and the patient will be contacted if there is an issue raised or if further information is required.

The man in question featured in the Daily Mail story had come out of a long-term relationship and was getting back into the dating scene. However, the 36-year-old chef began his dinner-date with a young woman, and soon began to suffer with something a little more than ‘nerves’.

The father-of-two felt his heart rapidly beating, his head thumping and he was pouring with sweat. Things were so bad he even feared he was having cardiac arrest.

It soon hit home that the symptoms were his own doing. Feeling optimistic about the night’s proceedings, the man had swallowed a small, blue, diamond-shaped pill before the date, one of 10 ‘Viagra’ pills he had bought online for £25. Bearing in mind that Viagra is manufactured in boxes of 4 and 8 tablets, this is the first clue that all is not what it seems.

“Before I even got to the date, I started to feel really hot and sweaty,” he said. “I thought it might be nerves — but then my heart started going really fast, I got a headache and felt a bit woozy.”

“I felt horrible for two days,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, my nose was blocked, I was dehydrated and I had red blotches all over my face.” After a quick check online, he quickly realised his ED medication didn’t resemble a genuine Viagra pill and he had been sold fakes.

“I crushed them up and flushed them all down the toilet, because there was no way I was going to take them again,” he said.

“I only took them as a back-up. I’d never had any problems before, but I just wanted to be sure. I would never buy anything like that online again, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else to do so either.”

Not surprisingly, the date didn’t go too well. Instead of a passion-filled evening, the man found himself alone in bed at home and considering a trip to A&E.

Hopefully men around the country will take heed from this man’s experience, but unfortunately figures demonstrate how the illegal market in fake or unlicensed erectile dysfunction pills has increased in recent years.

In the last year alone, officials have seized in excess of £11 million worth of these types of drugs. This represents a rise of 3 times the amount seized from the year previous and a 15-fold increase on the £740,000 haul apprehended during 2013.

For those concerned about how to spot a fake online pharmacy from a real one, Medical Specialists® has already listed some of the most common red flags to be aware of when browsing online.

As mentioned earlier, there is no need to be embarrassed about experiencing ED. It is a common condition that more men are finally starting to feel comfortable talking about. Men need not seek out their mate down the pub for pills that could contain any number of dangerous chemicals, or buy cheap fakes from illegal websites, especially when genuine Viagra or genuine generic sildenafil ED treatments can be obtained from a well-respected, fully registered MHRA-approved pharmacy like Medical Specialists®, from as little as £1.35.

Viagra skin patch in development – And it works faster than tablets!

People usually wear plasters to stem blood flow, but imagine putting one on to actually get something into the bloodstream?

For that is the idea behind a new way to treat erectile dysfunction in men, with scientists at universities at Cairo and Saudi Arabia looking at getting viagra into the blood, acting in a similar way to a smoking patch.

Men suffering with impotence problems would theoretically be able to wear the viagra skin patch on their upper arm or the abdomen, and perhaps most importantly for men, will kick-in within just a matter of seconds or minutes. Viagra can take between 30 minutes to an hour to work.

This means it will get men in the mood for sex even quicker than the time it takes them to get into the bedroom and take their clothes off!

Moreover, after taking the tablet version of viagra, some men occasionally experience various non-life threatening side effects such as blurred vision, slight headache, indigestion and muscle pain. The new erectile dysfunction skin patch would mean an end to these unwanted effects.

The team involved in the research at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, along with scientists at Cairo University, utilised a new drug delivery method, known as transferome technology.
A tiny patch measured at just 1cm squared was created, comprised of minute particles of sildenafil citrate (the active ingredient in viagra) which is coated with thin layers of fat and chemicals that will enable the skin to absorb the drug.

The patch was then tested on rats in order to judge just how much – if any – of the medicine would manage to penetrate the skin. The patch used on the rats only contained 1 milligram of viagra, which means bigger patches would need to be fashioned to accommodate for doses of viagra prescribed to men, which can range from 25mg to 100mg.

In a report in the journal Drug Design, Development and Therapy, scientists said the results demonstrated that viagra particles successfully transmitted through both the outer and inner layers of the skin.
In a report on the findings they said: “This could be a promising delivery system for the drug.
“The skin is an alternative route to the oral one, prolonging the effect and reducing variability.”
Although the patch has only been tested on rats thus far, there are hopes for future clinical trials on humans.

Since viagra first became available in 1998, its popularity has skyrocketed and has boosted the love lives of millions of men across the globe. After viagra became a huge success, its chunk of the market was somewhat reduced following the 2003 FDA-approvals of both levitra (vardenafil) and cialis (tadalafil) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

According to official health statistics, over 3.5m prescriptions were dispensed in England during 2015 alone for medicines to treat erectile dysfunction.

The manufacturers of viagra, Pfizer, were forced into lowering the hefty price of viagra after seeing its patent expire in 2013 and this led to many generic sildenafil products entering the market, drugs that contained exactly the same active ingredient of the branded viagra, but could be sold to patients for just a fraction of the price.

However, men might not want to completely ditch their oral medications just yet. The British Society of Sexual Medicine’s Dr Geoff Hackett warns that the patches will actually hit patients hard in the wallet compared to existing treatments.

“It might be a nice way of delivering the drug,” he said.

“But I can’t see how a patch likely to cost around £10 is going to replace a pill that’s a fraction of the price.”

Plain cigarette packaging introduced – A guide into the new rules

It is now almost a week since the new smoking legislation came into force in Britain, but what are the changes implemented and exactly does it mean you may ask?

From May 20, cigarettes are now being sold in green-coloured standardised, plain cigarette packaging depicting graphic warnings showing the grave health dangers emanating from smoking. These new rules are mainly aimed at helping to prevent youngsters from picking up the habit.

In a report compiled by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) published in July 2015, it was claimed that around 207,000 children in the UK start smoking each year, with an estimated two-thirds taking up smoking prior to turning 18 and over 80% before the age of 20.

ASH also say there’s around 10million smokers in the UK and a further 2.6million are using e-cigarettes.

However, new rules coming into play under the Tobacco and Regulated Products Regulations 2016 will look at getting more people to stop smoking, reducing the number of nicotine addicts by about 2.4million.

Changes will affect all cigarettes, hand-rolling tobacco and e-cigarettes manufactured for sale across Britain.

All products had to adhere to the regulations from May 20, however retailers have been given a one-year transitional period whilst old stock in sold.

Smokers going into their local shop for a packet of Marlboro cigarettes will no longer be able to spot the famous red and white packaging, but will now be faced with every brand bearing an identical olive-green colour, opening and font styles.

‘lipstick-style’ packs targeted at women, such as Vogue cigarettes, are also now forbidden, with at least 65% of the packaging being covered with public health warnings, graphic photos and text clearly showing the horrendous effects that smoking can do to the human body.

It isn’t just the packaging that has been hit hard…Promotional material will now no longer be able to utilise misleading descriptive words like “lite”, “natural” or “organic”. Statements such as “free of additives” and “less harmful than other brands” have also been outlawed.

Quantity has also been affected with the new changes, with all packs having to contain a minimum of 20 cigarettes so there is sufficient space on the packing itself to display all the health warnings.

Moreover, small bags of rolling tobacco will also be banned. Pouches now have to weigh at least 30g, whilst the current smallest pouch size is 8g.

Menthol cigarette smokers will be devastated to learn that flavoured cigs are being eradicated, becoming completely illegal by May 20 2020.

Other flavours set to go in the next four years include fruit, spice, herbs, alcohol, candy and vanilla.
Presently, there is no limits with regards to refill container size, but this is now consigned to the past. Containers will be capped at 10ml and 2ml for disposable e-cigarettes, cartridges and tanks.

This will undoubtedly impact the price of the containers as e-cig users can no longer purchase in bulk. Also, the highest strength of a vile of vaping liquid will now be 20mg per ml of nictotine, dropping from 24mg.

E-cigarette packing will also be forced to change. About 30% of the packet has to have the warning: “This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance.” As vaping liquid can be dangerous if ingested, e-cigarettes now have to be childproof and tamper-proof.

Just How Many Zombie Hayfever Drivers are on Britain’s Roads?

Here at Medical Specialists® Pharmacy we’d like to think that the majority of our patients would not ever think of getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol or after ingesting any illegal drugs.

However, would you get behind the wheel after taking a few tablets of legal drugs? More specifically – over-the-counter or prescription medication.

A new survey by car insurance company Confused.com has found some alarming statistics which could highlight just how safety conscious some of the drivers on Britain’s roads actually are.

The survey showed that approximately 1 in every 15 motorists suffering with hayfever say they have had their driving ability negatively impacted due to being under their influence of their medication.

What is not clear in the Confused.com poll is precisely how many motorists were taking drowsy antihistamines and if any actually more sensibly decided to opt for the non-drowsy antihistamines before getting behind the wheel, the latter of which includes the popular loratadine and cetirizine, supplied from Medical Specialists®.

Antihistamine medicines are generally classified into three groups. These are:

• First-generation antihistamines – These cause drowsiness in the majority of people and treatments include alimemazine, chlorphenamine, clemastine, cyproheptadine, diphenhydramine, hydroxyzine, ketotifen and promethazine. These medicines can also be used for their sedative effects should a person’s sleep be interrupted by itching.
• Second- or third-generation antihistamines – These are referred to as ‘non-drowsy’ hayfever treatments as they are less likely to cause drowsiness, and include treatments such as acrivastine, cetirizine, desloratadine, fexofenadine, levocetirizine, loratadine, and mizolastine. However, those performing skilled tasks – for example, driving – should be aware that a sedative effect could occur and, in particular, in combination with alcohol.

Pharmacists or doctors would recommend taking second- or third-generation antihistamines and only first generation treatments where the sedating effects are beneficial to the person – i.e. to help them sleep.

The Confused.com poll found that 4% of those motorists reported they have been involved in a car accident following taking hay fever medication. This calls into question just how many sedated and zombie-like drivers are populating the roads, putting themselves at others at grave risk, especially with the survey revealing that more than 1 in 7 have driven after taking drugs.

These are not illegal drugs taken for a high – i.e. cocaine or ecstasy – the majority of those in the poll admit they are in fact driving while under the influence of legal prescription or over-the-counter medication. In fact, motorists are four times more likely to drive after taking a legal drug compared to an illegal one.

Although doses of prescribed or over-the-counter drugs might not be exceeding any limits with regards to driving, it seems those with hay fever are simply not paying attention to the important warnings given in the patient information leaflets. Medical Specialists® cannot stress enough how imperative it is to read these and they can contain warnings which could help to avoid illness or even death.

As mentioned previously, antihistamines are usually the first port of all for anyone looking to keep their hayfever symptoms at bay, but people may not realise that there can be dangerous and unpredictable effects if taken those with certain conditions or if taken in conjunction with other things such as alcohol or certain antidepressants. Failing to read the patient information leaflet to take the drugs only as directed would mean people would probably not realise these factors.

The Confused.com poll showed that 15% of motorists who suffer from hayfever do not bother to read the accompanying leaflet inside the medication’s box.

Furthermore, 1 in 15 Brits (7%) are not adhering to the recommended dose, whilst alarmingly, 3% admitted they were unaware there was such a thing.

There are about 16 million people in the UK that are suffering with hayfever, just over a third of motorists (34%) have the condition, with the majority taking medication to supress the symptoms that include watery and itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing and an itchy throat.

However, patients often forget that all prescription and over-the-counter drugs, which includes those to fight hay fever, can have some unwanted side effects.

The survey highlighted the common complaints from hay fever treatment, with the respondent’s driving ability affected by drowsiness (55%), feeling lethargic (35%) and blurred vision (35%).

Dr Richard Vautery, deputy chair of the British Medical Association General Practitioners Committee, said: “Patients have a responsibility to only drive if they feel safe to do so.

“If they feel any medication they are taking is adversely affecting their ability to make quick decisions or concentrate, then they shouldn’t be behind the wheel.

“Their insurance will also not be valid if they were to do so.

“Patients should discuss any new drugs they are prescribed with their GP and with the pharmacists that provides them to find out whether there would be any impact on their ability to drive.

“This information is also always within the leaflet provided to patients when they are given prescription drugs.”

In March last year, new drug-driving laws listing 8 prescription drugs and 8 illicit drugs came into force across England and Wales, with roadside drug screening devices to detect those driving under the influence.

The devices seem to be doing their job – in 2015, 2,090 motorists were charged with drug-driving, compared with just 870 in 2014 – an increase of 140% – according to Freedom of Information data.
Medical Specialists® again would like to stress the absolute importance of reading any drug’s patient information leaflet to avoid putting yourself and other’s at risk, especially whilst on the roads. As the weather is now picking up and more people are heading outdoors and into pollen-filled air, this means a lot of people with hayfever are going to suffer if they are not taking their antihistamines. In addition to reading through the safety information of your hayfever treatment, we would recommend familiarising yourself with the drug-driving laws that came into force last year.

Statins could shield an unborn baby from the mother’s stress

Cholesterol-boosting statins could be used to help protect unborn babies from being impacted by their mother’s stress and thus reducing the risk of that baby growing up with health problems later in their life.

Statins are the most commonly prescribed treatment in the United Kingdom, taken by approximately anywhere between 5 and 10 million people, and estimated to cost the NHS around £500 million a year. They are usually prescribed to lower the patient’s high cholesterol levels, but scientists now believe they may also help protect the hearts of babies in the womb.

Research conducted at Edinburgh University discovered that statins helped counteract the negative effects brought on by stress hormones on foetal growth and heart development in mice.
Those involved in the research into the drugs, claim that the therapy may decrease the chances of babies being born underweight, and lower their risk of suffering with health problems in later life, such as heart disease.

Although the findings emanated from a study of mice, this may now prompt further analysis into looking at the long-term effects of statins during a woman’s pregnancy. However, researchers say the drugs are currently already sometimes given to pregnant women and therefore should be OK for clinical trials.

Professor Megan Holmes, from the University of Edinburgh, said: “These are very exciting results suggesting that there may finally be a potential therapy for women whose placenta is unable to maintain the normal growth of her baby.

“At present there is no treatment and babies may be born prematurely or small, and will be at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even psychiatric disorders later in life.
“Although more work needs to be done to show statins are safe in human pregnancy, these results show a new way forward for the major unmet need of foetal growth retardation.”

Previous studies have shown babies are typically born under what is considered a ‘normal’ weight, following exposure to high levels of stress hormones within the womb, and have a much higher risk of heart disease as they get older.

Usually, an unborn baby gets protection from a key enzyme generated the placenta. The enzyme helps to destroy the stress hormones, reducing the quantity of active hormones that can get to the baby’s blood supply.

If the mother is experiencing high levels of stress, the placenta then produces less of the enzyme and the baby’s protection is reduced.

Therefore, the researchers involved in the latest study decided to analyse mice that are unable to produce the enzyme as a model of maternal stress. It was discovered that stress hormones prevent the placenta from developing regular blood vessels, hindering the blood supply to the foetus.

This stops the growing foetus from reaching a full size as a result, negatively impacting the heart function too.

However, researchers found that by treating the mother with the statin Pravastatin, actually managed to trigger the production of a molecule called VEGF. This worked at stimulating the development of blood vessels in the placenta. Pravastatin is just one of numerous statins provided by Medical Specialists® Pharmacy, which also includes atorvastatin and rosuvastatin.

The study – published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was funded by the Wellcome Trust – found that by re-establishing the blood supply, the treatment helped to promote a regular development of the heart. In addition, the baby was able to grow to a healthy birthweight.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Low birthweight has been associated with maternal stress, and babies with low birthweights may be more prone to cardiovascular complications later in life.

“In this study the researchers have discovered that a drug called Pravastatin may counteract the consequences of increased levels of the stress hormone corticosterone within the placentas of mice.
“How Pravastatin counteracts the stress hormone is not yet understood, therefore more research is needed to see whether the drug will have the same effect in humans.”