Dirac Angestun Gesept

The NYT is reporting that a Merck-Johnson & Johnson joint venture has applied to make Mevacor (lovastatin), an older anti-cholesterol drug, available over-the-counter.

The timing on this is somewhat interesting to me, since I just today went to get blood work done to check on how I’m doing on lovastatin, and to pick up a new prescription for the same dosage level they’re considering making the OTC dose.

One of the concerns is that both the condition being treated (high cholesterol) and a potential side effect (liver breakdown) can only be monitored by periodic blood tests, which makes it kind of hard to see how taking it OTC will allow patients to tell if it’s helping, or hurting.

I also have the selfish concern that the price I pay would probably go up; my co-pay for a generic drug, which lovastatin now is, is quite a bit lower than the price of a 30-day supply is likely to be if it does go OTC.

The FDA voted against OTC for Mevacor (as well as Pravachol) in 2000, so we’ll see what happens this time around.

This is the first in Elizabeth Moon’s new series of not-quite-military SF. Ky Vatta has been kicked out of the Academy and sent home to take a job in her family’s transport company. Her first assignment is to take a ship to the breakers, making a couple stops along the way; after all, there’s no reason to pass up extra profit (however small) if the ship’s going that way anyway.

As you would expect, the “milk run” doesn’t stay that way for long (it’d be an awfully short book if it did), and she soon finds her ship, her crew, and herself in a somewhat more fraught situation than she expected.

There are definite echoes of Moon’s Esmay Suiza books (young woman needs to use her wits and skills to save the day) but not so many that it’s in any sense a rehash. Ky Vatta is a different character, with different skills, in a different situation. Moon also avoids David Weber’s infodump/weapons catalog style, focusing more on the characters and situations than the hardware.

I very much enjoyed Trading In Danger and Marque and Reprisal, the sequel, is on my to-be-read list. Highly recommended to fans of the Esmay Suiza books, or those looking for something a little different from the run of the mil-SF (pun intended).