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27-626: ZAVA was established in 2010 as DrEd.com by former Dr Thom employees David Meinertz and Amit Khutti. Its website was launched in November 2011 in the UK and Germany with two staff doctors. In 2012, the company raised an angel round of $ 1.4 million. In April 2012, DrEd opened in Austria and launched an emergency contraception delivery service in the UK. On 20 June 2012, DrEd was launched in Switzerland. In early 2014,

54-588: A ban on online issued prescriptions, which became popularly known as "Lex DrEd" or "DrEd-Verbot" (DrEd ban). On 11 November 2016, the Bundestag approved these changes. This ban forced DrEd to work with EU pharmacies outside of the country that offered German delivery. However, in April 2018, the Chamber of Physicians of Schleswig-Holstein changed its code to allow online consultations to the state doctors and, in early May 2018,

81-520: A doctor registered in one EU member state are recognized in all other member states. However, the legal grounds for ZAVA's services have been questioned in several EU countries. Doctors and pharmacists have highlighted challenges between local doctor treatment and prescription fulfilment from pharmacies due to the European Directive (see "Criticism and controversies"). In the EU, ZAVA offers diagnosis by

108-482: A doctor using telemedicine and is offering Rx prescriptions , which can be delivered using partner online pharmacies . In the UK, ZAVA has its own in-house registered pharmacy. ZAVA relies on patients filling in a detailed online medical questionnaire which is reviewed by a person from its in-house clinical team. The doctors provide medical consultation and can prescribe medicine. ZAVA has provided 5 million paid consultations since its launch. In April 2012, when DrEd

135-537: A maximum of €5 for comprehensive product databases. The classification of the evaluation results is based on the marking system used in German schools. This results in the following categories for the overall verdicts on the quality of goods and services: In accordance with its statutes, Stiftung Warentest has its premises in Berlin, and there are three bodies which are responsible for different areas. The executive board conducts

162-490: A prescription for a malaria drug. The editors noted that the online doctor "comically" advised a sex worker of the need to inform her sexual partners of the last three months about her STD infection (which the Austrian law requires). In malaria cases, the editors complained that the online doctor gave them an "unnecessary" preventive treatment, because their test patient was supposed to travel only above 2,500 meters altitude, where

189-530: A subsidy of €3.5 million from the Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. This is compensation for the fact that it does not carry any advertisements in its publications because this could compromise its independence. Stiftung Warentest carries out more than 200 comparative product tests and investigations of services from nearly all areas of everyday life every year. Since 2002, products and services on special limited offer, mainly by

216-615: The urine tests necessary for the diagnosis. DrEd responded with an open letter, questioning the care of the anonymous testers. In March 2013, the Federal Ministry of Health questioned the legal grounds on which DrEd was operating in Germany. In October 2013, when DrEd reached an agreement with the pharmacy chain Ordermed for the morning-after pill delivery, it was canceled by Ordermed because of its pharmacy partners' objection. In fall 2013,

243-566: The UK, Health Bridge Ltd., the company that owns zavamed.com, is registered with and regulated by the Care Quality Commission . Health Bridge Limited has a MHRA permission to sell medicines online. Health Bridge Ltd. Pharmacy is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council . In Europe, the company operates under the European Directive 2011/24/EC on cross-border healthcare that states that prescriptions written by

270-445: The UK, it was criticized for encouraging underage sex. In 2015, when DrEd began offering STI testing kits online, some doctors criticized the practice, claiming that ordering STI test kits online does not allow patients to receive advice on safe sexual practices the way face-to-face consultations do. In September 2021, ZAVA partnered with Asda to launch Asda Online Doctor. Dr Thom Too Many Requests If you report this error to

297-497: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 487892346 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:31:55 GMT Stiftung Warentest Stiftung Warentest is a German consumer organisation and foundation involved in investigating and comparing goods and services in an unbiased way. It

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324-743: The business became profitable. In December 2014, DrEd was launched in Ireland , offering prescriptions for various medications. In June 2016, the service was launched in France under the new brand ZAVA with four French doctors providing online consultations. In September 2018, ZAVA had 155 employees and served patients in six European countries. It was one of the largest digital healthcare companies in Europe having served more than 2 million patients online, including 400,000 from Germany. In 2018 and 2019, British and German media wrote about ZAVA's stockpiling of key medications, in

351-546: The change happened on a national level, affirmed by the Federal Congress of German doctors. Also in May 2018, the Chamber of Physicians of Baden-Württemberg approved DrEd as a model project, following its 2016 decision to test telemedicine services within approved model projects where web service is compared to the hospital treatment and evaluated by the Chamber. In 2012, when DrEd launched the morning after pill delivery service in

378-609: The context of a potential shortage of Viagra Connect caused by Brexit . In January 2019, DrEd changed its name to ZAVA in Germany. According to the website, the name is derived from the French Ça va? ("How are you?"). The firm also announced plans to open an office in Germany. In June 2019, Health Bridge Ltd., which owns ZAVA, raised $ 32m (£20m) in a series A round . It aimed to expand its service in Europe and open an office in Hamburg. ZAVA operates under British and European Union laws. In

405-438: The courts to pay compensation and usually wins any legal action taken against it. Stiftung Warentest is self-financing, selling its own monthly magazines test (annual circulation on average 351,000 copies) and Finanztest (211,000), books and special magazine issues, and also investigation results as paid-for content on its own website. Sales revenues in 2012 totalled approximately €39.5 million. The foundation also receives

432-478: The discount retailer chains, have also been investigated every week and the results quickly published. Aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been a part of the investigations of some specified products since 2004. There is also a section on investigated medication ("Medikamente im Test"), which provides information about more than 9000 medicines and 175 areas of application. Market researchers and scientific staff are employed by Stiftung Warentest with

459-487: The disease was not present. The magazine concluded that Austrian patients should absolutely avoid DrEd or any online medicine service, because they "cannot replace the personal meeting between the doctor and the patient". In 2016, Profil , an Austrian weekly news magazine, tested the DrEd.com service by ordering Viagra and once against expressed concerns around the quality of online consultation and prescription. In 2011, when

486-428: The foundation has a considerable influence on the buying behavior of consumers. Good ratings and verdicts are often given great prominence in product advertising and on product packaging. In contrast, bad ratings and verdicts frequently lead to a decline in sales and thus sometimes legal action against SW by the manufacturers. According to SW, they are sued ten times a year. The foundation has never actually been ordered by

513-408: The foundation's business and represents it in and out of court. It comprises just one person at the present time, namely Hubertus Primus , the successor of Werner Brinkmann and Roland Hüttenrauch . The supervisory board, which has seven members, is responsible for appointing the executive board and also supervising its activities. The Advisory Council, with 18 members, advises the executive board and

540-433: The manufacturers. After the tests and the evaluations have been completed, but before publication, details of the objective results are sent to the respective manufacturers and providers for verification and so that they can make their comments. Journalists then summarise the investigation results in a form which makes them easier to read and understand. Staff members who are specifically responsible for verification make sure

567-662: The newly elected Federal government proposed changes to the law, demanding a direct doctor-patient consultation for the initial prescription of medicines, which was sharply criticized by DrEd. In May 2014, the Bavarian Health Minister, Melanie Huml , demanded the Federal government to clarify that online prescriptions made outside of Germany were not valid. In 2016, the Ministry of Health proposed changes to German legislation demanding personal contact between doctor and patient and

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594-544: The published reports and investigation results concur. Up until December 2011, Stiftung Warentest had already published information about 5,300 investigations covering about 100,000 products and 2,137 services. Stiftung Warentest's website has all the investigation results starting in 2000, as well as current news, special online articles, an interactive calculator and free short versions of between eight and ten investigations per month. Downloading information costs between 75 cents and €2.50 for detailed investigation results, and

621-611: The responsibility for selecting the products and services and the carrying out of the investigations. Each investigation project must be approved of by the Advisory Council and discussed at a meeting with advisory experts representing consumers, industry, manufacturers / retailers and providers, as well as independent experts. The investigations are not actually carried out by Stiftung Warentest's staff members themselves, but by independent external test institutes worldwide. Test samples are purchased anonymously in shops and not provided by

648-532: The service was launched in Germany, Dirk Heinrich, the chairman of NAV-Virchow-Bund, an association of German physicians, criticized DrEd for prescribing medicines without physical examination. He said that "a diagnosis from an online survey is not a diagnosis, but a guess" and called DrEd "a covert online-pharmacy". In July 2012, Stiftung Warentest , a German consumer organisation , tested DrEd with patients allegedly having bladder infection and chlamydia infection . In both cases antibiotics were prescribed without

675-413: The supervisory board on all issues of fundamental importance. Editor-in-chief of test is Anita Stocker, until summer 2014 editor-in-chief of Finanztest was Hermann-Josef Tenhagen and editor-in-chief of test.de is Andreas Gebauer. Lucia A. Reisch is and Gerhard Scherhorn has been a member of the board of directors . Joint international investigations are generally carried out with members of

702-609: Was founded on 4 December 1964 by the Federal Republic of Germany as an independent foundation under civil law. It is based in Berlin . Beyond its subscriber base and media coverage, content from Stiftung Warentest can be disseminated through word of mouth . Stiftung Warentest's aim is to compare aspects of products such as usefulness, functionality and environmental impact, and to educate consumers about those aspects. Due to its reputation as an independent and reliable organization,

729-458: Was launched in Austria it faced opposition from the Minister of Health Alois Stöger , the Austrian chamber of physicians and the Austrian chamber of pharmacists. The Austrian association for patient's rights also expressed its concerns about the quality of service that DrEd may provide. In January 2013, the Austrian consumer magazine Konsument tested DrEd.com by ordering a gonorrhea treatment and

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