Computer glitch Turns Viagra Into Anti-Smoking Drug

When smokers in the Scottish city of Glasgow signed up for a drug to help them kick the butt, the last thing they expected to get, was the impotency cure Viagra.
As it turns out, boffins haven't found that the impotency drug can also cure smoking, but that it was a "computer glitch" that led to smokers being mistakenly prescribed Viagra instead of Zyban, the anti-smoking drug.
NHS Greater Glasgow has now sent out emails to about 900 GPs at 300 surgeries warning them about the malfunction by its "e-Formulary" IT system, which automatically lists the most popular drugs when doctors fill out prescriptions.
The "glitch" caused the system to select sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra, when GPs tried to select Zyban, a drug that suppresses the part of the brain that experiences nicotine cravings, reports The Times.
The Greater Glasgow NHS also issued a statement in which it insisted that patient care had not been impaired by the glitch as prescriptions are "subject to stringent double-checking by both prescribing doctors and pharmacy staff".
"A computer glitch was discovered by two Glasgow GP practices that use the Glasgow e-Formulary following a recent update of the online General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS). As a precaution, an advisory e-mail and memo was immediately issued to all the Glasgow practices which use GPASS and have installed the e-Formulary, to alert staff to the potential problem," it said.
However, one Glasgow doctor revealed that the glitch could have caused a problem if a chemist could have unknowingly given a patient Viagra thinking it was Zyban.
"In some cases, it's possible that GPs will have spotted the problem after printing out a prescription. But some will not, and unsuspecting patients will have gone to the chemist's and unknowingly ordered Viagra," The Times quoted the doc, as saying.
"There is a chance the pharmacist would spot this, especially if it was a woman who handed in the prescription. But there would be no reason to double-check when a man handed it in," the doc added.
from Daily India