The caller was Chinese, and he wanted a medicine. That could mean anything. He gave the name which, through his thick accent, sounded like “desitin,” an over-the-counter treatment for diaper rash.
That didn’t seem right, so I coaxed him through the spelling (“S as in Shanghai….? “T as in Taiwan…?). The result was “dasatinib.” This turns out to be treatment for leukemia, FDA approved a few years ago, and superior to other treatments. A friend in China had asked the guest to obtain some.
