Drugs
The Drugs (19)
Methylene Blue
A 19th-century dye turned approved antidote, studied off-label for memory and mitochondria; combined with antidepressants it can cause serotonin syndrome.
Read the deep dive →Ivermectin
The Nobel-winning antiparasitic from a Japanese soil microbe, used against river blindness, strongyloidiasis and scabies; the large COVID-19 trials found no benefit.
Read the deep dive →Aspirin
A century-old drug that irreversibly blocks the cyclooxygenase enzymes, studied for heart attack and stroke prevention, pain, fever and colorectal cancer, with bleeding risks.
Read the deep dive →Metformin
The most prescribed type 2 diabetes pill worldwide, a biguanide traced to goat's rue, also researched for longevity, which remains unproven.
Read the deep dive →Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists
Drugs that mimic the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, studied for blood sugar, weight loss, heart and kidney outcomes, alongside side effects and muscle loss.
Read the deep dive →Dimethyl Sulfoxide
A solvent made from wood-pulp by-products; approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only as a bladder solution for interstitial cystitis; trials of skin use for pain disagree; it carries other substances through skin.
Read the deep dive →Ibogaine
The alkaloid from the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga: its ceremonial and research history, how it acts in the brain, and the published heart-rhythm findings.
Read the deep dive →Fenbendazole
A veterinary deworming drug drawing anticancer interest from anecdotal cases and lab studies; no formal human trials had been registered as of 2025.
Read the deep dive →Activated Charcoal
Heat-activated carbon powder that binds certain swallowed poisons in emergency care; its popular detox, gas and whitening claims have little evidence.
Read the deep dive →Lactulose
A synthetic, indigestible milk-derived sugar approved as an osmotic laxative and for the confusion of advanced liver disease, with emerging prebiotic research.
Read the deep dive →Laetrile
Sold as “vitamin B17”: not a vitamin, not a proven cancer treatment, and a cyanide poisoning risk.
Read the deep dive →Lithium Carbonate
The pharmaceutical lithium salt, distinct from the trace amounts discussed as a nutrient.
Read the deep dive →Low Dose Naltrexone
An opioid-blocking drug used off-label at a fraction of its usual dose, studied in small trials for autoimmune disease and chronic pain.
Read the deep dive →Lugol’s Iodine
Iodine and potassium iodide in solution, the traditional strong iodine preparation.
Read the deep dive →Magnesium Sulfate
Epsom salt: the laxative and the bath, and the intravenous drug used in eclampsia.
Read the deep dive →Melatonin
The darkness hormone that times sleep is also an antioxidant that concentrates in mitochondria, studied for sleep, brain protection and immunity.
Read the deep dive →N-Acetylcysteine
A cysteine form that rebuilds glutathione, long used as the acetaminophen-overdose antidote and a mucus thinner, and studied for kidney and mental health.
Read the deep dive →Nicotine: The Research
The tobacco alkaloid acting on nicotinic receptors; a PubMed research collection on memory, Parkinson's, bowel inflammation, mood, pain, cancer biology and toxicity.
Read the deep dive →Rapamycin
A transplant drug from an Easter Island soil bacterium that extends lifespan in mice, now used off-label for longevity despite real side effects.
Read the deep dive →Prescription and over-the-counter drugs, one wing per drug: what each one is, how it acts in the body, what the trials and safety records report, and its history. Each wing collects the drug’s deep-dive articles. The people who discovered and explained these drugs are under Pharmacologists.