Prescription medicine, described from the label that approved it
What the approved label says, before anyone tries to sell you something
Every fact on this site about a medicine comes from the product information a regulator approved, and every page links to that document. What we add is the part the document does not have: how two medicines differ, what they cost, and how a prescription is legally obtained without a trip to a surgery.
From the approved label
Viagra
Sildenafil
Approved uses
VIAGRA is a phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED)
Label version: 17 November 2023 · DailyMed
Written by us
- How it works
- Original and generic
- What it costs
The catalogue in numbers
- medicines
- 35
- approved labels read
- 40
- side by side comparisons
- 6
- links to unlicensed sellers
- 0
Browse by problem
8 categories, each with the medicines actually approved for it, and a plain note when something is prescribed for a use it was never approved for.
- Erectile dysfunctionThe four erection medicines that regulators have actually approved5 medicines · 1 comparison
- Premature ejaculationApproved in Europe, not in the United States: what that difference means2 medicines
- Hair lossTwo ingredients with an approval, and a shelf full of products without one3 medicines · 1 comparison
- Weight lossSame molecule, different brand, different approval: the detail that decides everything5 medicines · 2 comparison
- Sexual healthInfections where the treatment is short, specific and worth getting right9 medicines · 2 comparison
- Men's healthProstate, testosterone and quitting smoking, without the supplement aisle4 medicines
- CystitisThree antibiotics whose labels name acute cystitis and nothing wider3 medicines
- Travel medicineThe category where the medicine is needed before the trip, not after4 medicines
Comparison
Side by side
Two labels, one table, no verdict. The comparison stops where the documents stop, because deciding between them is a medical judgement about one person.
- Sildenafil and tadalafil, compared from both labelsThe most common question in this category, and the labels answer most of it. One difference is real and practical, one is a matter of price, and the rest is closer to marketing than to medicine.
- Finasteride and minoxidil, compared from both labelsThese are the only two ingredients approved for pattern hair loss, and they are not alternatives in the usual sense: they act differently, they are obtained differently, and one of them is approved for women.
- Ozempic and Wegovy: one substance, two approvalsThe two names describe the same active substance under two separate approvals, and the difference between them is not chemistry but what each was authorised to be used for and at what dose.
- Mounjaro and Ozempic, compared from both labelsTwo different substances, both injected weekly, both approved in the United States for type 2 diabetes under these brand names. The comparison people usually want is about weight, and that is where the labels stop being able to answer.
- Valaciclovir and aciclovir, compared from both labelsOne becomes the other inside the body. The difference is how efficiently it gets there, and that single fact explains the dosing, the price and why both are still prescribed.
Written by us
Where a prescription legally comes from
Regulated online services where a doctor reviews your case and a registered pharmacy dispenses. We check the licence and name the regulator, and we say when we earn a commission.
Questions that do not fit on one medicine's page
How to tell a licensed pharmacy from a fake one, what a generic actually is, and what the rules are in your country.