Central Iowans who suffer frequent heartburn attacks may be able to douse the flames at a Fourth of July event in the Des Moines area. Pharmacist John Forbes says one-thousand people will be screened about their heartburn problems and those who qualify will get a free 14-day supply of the drug Prilosec to declare their independence from digestive trouble. Prilosec has been a prescription-only drug to treat heartburn for ten years or so. The F-D-A recently approved it for over-the-counter sale, but that won’t happen until the fall. Forbes says Iowa’s capitol city area was specially chosen for this event and is among only about two-dozen nationwide.Des Moines placed number-23 in a national study of the top-25 cities where the most people per capita suffer from frequent heartburn. As part of the promotion, the city that gets the most people signed up will win 25-thousand dollars for the community’s fire department. The screenings will be held from 8 AM to 4 P.M. at Lion’s Park in Urbandale on Friday.
