pharmaceuticals

Facebook Forcing Drug Companies to Allow Pill Talk

Corporations love Facebook, because it’s free advertising. Simple! But when you’re a company that sells a product that changes the brains of your customers, you might be worried when they start to chat online. Facebook says: tough shit. Up until now, the Washington Post reports, pharmaceutical firms were given a rare exception on Facebook: they…

Health Sam Biddle Aug 16

How Are 20% of Human Genes Patented?

John Sulston, along with Sarah Chan and John Harris, write that scientific process is being stymied due to excessive ownership of scientific intellectual property. One of the more troubling statistics? Private companies have patented nearly 20% of human genes. For example, it is estimated that some 20% of individual human genes have been patented already…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jun 14

A drug that will make you a morally upright person

Yesterday the Guardian ran an intriguing article by Amelia Hill about the rise of drugs that could enhance our moral sensibilities. And by “moral,” what is generally meant is non-violent and empathetic to strangers, as well as future generations. Here’s a chunk of interesting observations from it: Researchers have become very interested in developing biomedical…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 5

For women, placebos are the best aphrodisiac

When it comes to sexual satisfaction, believing that you’re fulfilled can be the fastest route to real fulfillment. That’s the lesson scientists learned when they gave women a “sexual enhancement” placebo – and found that it actually increased sexual satisfaction. Women unhappy with their levels of sexual arousal and satisfaction are often said to suffer…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 16

Proof that genetically-engineered monsters are most likely to originate in the United States

A new report on the pharmaceutical industry has just been published by a European consortium, and it provides – among other data – proof that the U.S. is a breeding ground for synthetic mutants and weird new drugs. I love this chart, above, which shows how many new “chemical or biological entities” were brought to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 16

Pirate Agricultures of the California Coast

When every crop has to be licensed from patent owners like Monsanto, only those practiced in the art of pirate agriculture will have reasonably-priced food. This gorgeous series of photographs from Mendocino’s pot harvest might be a glimpse of that future. Photographer Mathieu Young took these intimate pictures of a small pot farm at harvest…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 5

A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory

Imagine if you could look at something once and remember it forever. You would never have to ask for directions again. Now a group of scientists has isolated a protein that mega-boosts your ability to remember what you see. A group of Spanish researchers reported today in Science that they may have stumbled upon a…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 2

An Anti-Anxiety Drug That Could Create Super-Soldiers

Soon you may be able to buy a drug that can make you calm by mimicking the body’s natural self-soothing process. But you wouldn’t feel drugged. What would happen to people who suddenly became fearless without side-effects? A group of European researchers discovered a ligand, or a chemical that binds with molecules, can soothe even…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 19

RE: 4 Senses Lounger helps relieve your pain associated with Capirox

A special kind of innovative wellness feeling! Capirox-20 Buy now and enjoy our price at USD69.00 for set of 10 packages Lie down, close your eyes and relax! Your guests will experience a new kind of well-being with the new innovative 4 Senses Lounger! As soon as the guest lies comfortable on the ergonomically designed…

Tech News Mark Wilson Apr 1

Goats Genetically Engineered to Produce Drugs in Their Milk

On Friday, the US Food and Drug Adminstration stopped dragging its feet and acknowledged that tomorrow’s drugs are just as likely to be made in the bosoms of goats as they are to come out of a laboratory. The latest craze among drug makers is “pharming,” or the practice of creating special, genetically-engineered animals that…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 9

Drug-Maker Funds Study Showing Why Some People Can Be Cured with Placebos

In one of those weird moments in corporate science, pharma mega-corp GlaxoSmithKline has funded a Swedish study that looked into the genetic underpinnings of susceptibility to placebos. Turns out that certain people are more easily cured by fake sugar pills (placebos) than others. Is Glaxo trying to figure out which people it needs to eliminate…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 2

Will the Neo-Depression Create a Drug Epidemic?

Many economic crisis periods in the U.S. have spawned drug epidemics. During the late-nineteenth century “long depression” or “crisis,” the use of opium reached epidemic proportions, and a few decades later the innovation of intravenous injection made heroin the drug of choice among 1930s Depression-era junkies. Heroin made a comeback during the 1973 Oil Crisis,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 14

Antibiotics Can Prevent Bacteria From Becoming Drug-Resistant

You’ve probably heard that all the antibiotics we take are breeding new generations of drug-resistant bacteria. In fact, many diseases we once killed easily with Penicillin now require mega-doses of super-antibiotics like Cipro. While researchers have known for a long time that bacteria are developing resistance to drugs, they weren’t sure how the tiny organisms…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 1

62 Percent of Pill-Popping Scientists Use Ritalin

Today, the results are in for a survey conducted by the scientific journal Nature on “enhancement” drug use among its readers. Turns out 1 in 5 of the 1400 respondents have taken drugs to enhance their performance (i.e., recreationally) rather than to cure a problem. The most popular of these drugs was speedy Ritalin: 62…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 9

Testosterone May Be A Cure for Worst Effects of Menopause

Although thousands of women take estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) to avoid the unpleasantness of menopause, study after study has shown that ERT may shorten life. But today researchers announced results from a study of testosterone therapy that suggested the substance known as T may become a crucial ingredient in post-menopausal drug cocktails of the future.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 7

Provigil is the Cocaine of the Twenty-First Century

Provigil (AKA modafinil) has been called a wonder drug: it can keep you awake and alert for hours without side-effects, and it’s even recommended as “the professor’s little helper” by neuroscience researchers writing in the prestigious journal Nature. Provigil, approved by the US food and drug administration for the treatment of narcolepsy, is often prescribed…

io9 Annalee Newitz Mar 25

Science Detectives and the Giant Malaria Drug Bust

It’s one of the coolest science detective stories in recent memory. The ingredients of this tale include 240,000 blisterpacks of fake malaria drugs, a tiny amount of flower pollen, and forensic palynology. A gang selling fake malaria drugs all across Asia had made millions (killing lots of people in the process), and covered their tracks…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 11

Will We Drug Soldiers to Make Them Depressed?

Will soldiers of the future be given serotonin depressors to make them depressed and therefore fearless? A new study released Friday shows that people with a low level of serotonin do not “reflexively avoid” bad situations, and are more likely to explore risky and dangerous places. This is a sorry state in everyday life, but…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 4

Crackdown on Black Market Hormones

Hormones are the new recreational drugs, helping you maintain that zippy youthful feeling even into your 60s and letting you grow cool secondary sex characteristics your own hormones won’t. For those reasons, estrogen is one of the hottest black market hormones. Menopausal women and transsexuals denied estrogen therapy by doctors are buying it from shady…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 10

Re-Grow Your Skin With “Cosmeceuticals”

Several new products that hover between being cosmetics and pharmeceuticals promise to make aging skin look young again. And apparently there’s medical proof that they work. The main signs of aging skin are an uneven surface, wrinkles, and discoloration. Now a North Carolina dermatologist says each of these symptoms can be treated with simple, topical…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 31

Facebook Forcing Drug Companies to Allow Pill Talk

How Are 20% of Human Genes Patented?

A drug that will make you a morally upright person

For women, placebos are the best aphrodisiac

Proof that genetically-engineered monsters are most likely to originate in the United States

Pirate Agricultures of the California Coast

A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory

An Anti-Anxiety Drug That Could Create Super-Soldiers

RE: 4 Senses Lounger helps relieve your pain associated with Capirox

Goats Genetically Engineered to Produce Drugs in Their Milk

Drug-Maker Funds Study Showing Why Some People Can Be Cured with Placebos

Will the Neo-Depression Create a Drug Epidemic?

Antibiotics Can Prevent Bacteria From Becoming Drug-Resistant

62 Percent of Pill-Popping Scientists Use Ritalin

Testosterone May Be A Cure for Worst Effects of Menopause

Provigil is the Cocaine of the Twenty-First Century

Science Detectives and the Giant Malaria Drug Bust

Will We Drug Soldiers to Make Them Depressed?

Crackdown on Black Market Hormones

Re-Grow Your Skin With “Cosmeceuticals”

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