MetaFilter posts tagged with pharmacology

Placebos

homunculus — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:08:59 -0800

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.

Long-term effects of ecstacy

homunculus — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:13:05 -0800

Ecstasy's long-term effects revealed. "Enough time has finally elapsed to start asking if ecstasy damages health in the long term. According to the biggest review ever undertaken, it causes slight memory difficulties and mild depression, but these rarely translate into problems in the real world. While smaller studies show that some individuals have bigger problems, including weakened immunity and larger memory deficits, so far, for most people, ecstasy seems to be nowhere near as harmful over time as you may have been led to believe." [Via]

The Model of a Psychopharmacologist

homunculus — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:50:11 -0800

I Am the Very Model of a Psychopharmacologist. [Via Omni Brain.]

Psychoactive Drugs for the Future

peacay — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:21:23 -0800

Psychoactive Drugs for the Future Could brain-boosting drugs become as common as coffee?
UK government group Foresight have just released their 'Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs Project' in which the aim was to evaluate:
"How can we manage the use of psychoactive substances in the future to best advantage for the individual, the community and society?"
The report can be viewed in its entirety from here. Direct link to the Executive Summary (.pdf) via

Got the right genes?

billsaysthis — Sat, 18 Dec 2004 13:04:01 -0800

Predicting who'll benefit from anti-depressants From the study's abstract: "There are well-replicated, independent lines of evidence supporting a role for corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the pathophysiology of depression." The NY Times has a bit more readable explanation (reg-free link) of a recent investigation of into whether there is a genetic explanation for why some people get more from their drugs than others.

Science

semmi — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 08:55:20 -0800

In terms of our genes, we humans are all the same -- except for the ways in which we're different. Pharmacogenomics has for years been touted as the ultimate benefit of the genomics revolution. But to many, this revolution has a troubling side.

AIDS Dissidents

Neale — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 15:13:18 -0800

AIDS Dissidents argue AIDS is not really caused by HIV but is a production of medical and pharmaceutical conglomerates. They are willing to argue the point even though some are HIV positive. They use "Seven Deadly Deceptions" such as "The HIV test is unreliable--so don't get tested." to further their cause; and their cause is growing.

Stopping this scourge

billsaysthis — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 09:45:45 -0800

Dr. Donald Francis He was portrayed by Mathew Modine in the classic HBO film And the Band Played On, which told the story of how he discovered the AIDS virus 20 years ago. Earlier in his career he was a key member of the team that wiped out Smallpox (although he couldn't argue a few governments from keeping samples on ice just in case) and the team that figured out how to contain outbreaks of the flesh eating Ebola virus--that was essentially him, though not his personality, that Dustin Hoffman played in Outbreak. Now he's the president and chief scientist of Vaxgen, a company that expects to receive positive result from its Phase III human clinical trials of AIDSVAX shortly after New Year's. If the results are as expected, AIDSVAX will be the first AIDS vaccine to go into production.

Like any other major issue in our age of delusions and self-deceptions, there are doubters and paranoids and conspiracy theorists too. Here is a neat little example of all three bundled up in one, from a publication titled The Aids Mirage: Donald Francis invents a viral epidemic. All the stop energy embodied by such efforts are really sad.

DOJ covers the butts of business

RobbieFal — Wed, 27 Nov 2002 14:28:04 -0800

This isn't irony. The Department of Justice wants to deny justice to the families who have to deal with kids with autism I guess if you're a vaccine manufacturer, you don't want people to know that what you're putting in kids is gonna screw their lives up forever, right? That would cost you alot of money

If the Vaccine makers are scared about huge rewards for families harmed by their products, they should have made sure their vaccines didn't cause children to develop autism

DailyBread — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 16:41:19 -0800

Ginkgo supplements don’t help...Um...................um...... A new study suggests ginkgo supplements do nothing to quickly improve memory in healthy people, a finding that goes against years of well-publicized claims that helped turn the supplements into a multimillion-dollar industry.

goto11 — Wed, 17 Apr 2002 07:22:05 -0800

Mother of teen suicide pilot sues drug company for $70M. Mom claims that the acne drug her son was taking caused his depression and subsequent suicide flight. Do you buy it?

dcodea — Thu, 16 Nov 2000 02:16:41 -0800

Poor Eli Lilly is going to lose it's Prozac patent protection soon, though not quite yet. via Follow Me Here