Drug Story

This episode is all about ivermectin - which truly is a wonder drug! A veritable miracle cure.
For, ahem, river blindness. And for some other parasitic diseases, like hookworm. Mostly in animals.
But in the US, you have likely heard of ivermectin not as a treatment for parasites but for different purposes altogether. There are thousands of videos on YouTube and Instagram extolling ivermectin for viral diseases like Covid, various cancers, and for something called a “parasitic detox,” or a “parasitic cleanse.”
Really? This one drug does all that?
No. It does not.
In this episode of Drug Story, we tell the tale of ivermectin, and what gets all those people on TikTok raving about this drug - what they hope it could be, what they believe it works on.
And then, with an open mind, we go to the science – to tease apart the true miracles from the mere fantasies.
Source for this episode:
[1] Dirt Eaters (2006) NCpedia: Hookworm spreads through skin contact with contaminated soil, with infection linked to poor sanitation and barefoot exposure.
[2] What Would It Take to Describe the Global Diversity of Parasites? (2020) Proceedings B (Royal Society): Discussion of parasite diversity and implications for global health.
[3] Charles Wardell Stiles (n.d.) The Online Collection and Catalog of Rockefeller Archive Center: Stiles identified hookworm as a widespread cause of disease in the American South and helped initiate national eradication efforts.
[4] The Great Hookworm Crusade (1978) Facing South: Exploration of early 20th-century public health campaigns targeting hookworm.
[5] The Germ of Laziness: Rockefeller Philanthropy and Public Health in the New South (2007): Analysis of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’s hookworm eradication campaign and its role in shaping public health systems.
[6] How a Worm Gave the South a Bad Name (2016) NOVA (PBS): Hookworm caused anemia, fatigue, and cognitive impairment, contributing to stereotypes of laziness in the American South
[7] Lessons Learned (2016) Vanderbilt University: Hookworm campaigns demonstrated the importance of sanitation, education, and coordinated public health infrastructure.
[8] Public Health: How the Fight Against Hookworm Helped Build a System (2020) REsource: Early hookworm eradication efforts contributed to the formation of organized public health systems in the U.S.
[8] Dr. Abbott Assails “Freedom” League (1910) The New York Times: Physicians publicly criticized groups opposing national health initiatives during early 20th-century reforms.
[10] America’s Deadly Flirtation with Antiscience and the Medical Freedom Movement (2021) Journal of Clinical Investigation: Historical medical freedom movements mirror modern resistance to public health guidance.
[11] The Hookworm Blues: We Still Got ’Em (2017) American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene: Hookworm infection remains present in parts of the U.S., particularly in areas with inadequate sanitation and persistent poverty.
[12] The American Murderer (2023) Bunk History: Hookworm campaigns in the U.S. South prioritized poor white populations to address labor productivity and regional stigma, while excluding Black communities from interventions.
[13] The Debate Is On: To Deworm Or Not To Deworm? (2015) NPR Goats and Soda: Mass deworming programs reduce worm infections and may improve school attendance, though evidence on long-term health and economic benefits remains debated.
[14] Hookworm Persists in U.S. Despite Belief That It Was Wiped Out (2017) NPR: Ongoing hookworm cases in Alabama are linked to failing wastewater systems and persistent poverty.
[15] Nobel laureate William Campbell describes developing a new drug to Cornell audience (2016) Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine: Overview of the discovery of ivermectin and its development as a breakthrough antiparasitic drug.
[16] Progress and Impact of 13 Years of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (2014) PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: Mass drug administration programs using ivermectin significantly reduced transmission of filarial diseases worldwide.
[17] The Discovery of Ivermectin: A Crapshoot or Not (2007) Cambridge University Press: Ivermectin originated from screening soil microbes, with discovery driven by trial-and-error experimentation.
[18] The Life and Times of Ivermectin — A Success Story (2004) Nature Reviews Microbiology: Ivermectin disrupts parasite nerve and muscle function, supporting mass drug administration campaigns that significantly reduced global parasitic disease burden.
[19] Two Elite Medical Journals Retract Coronavirus Papers (2020) Science: Retractions of major COVID-19 studies exposed weaknesses in peer review and data verification.
[20] Medical Liberty and Drugless Healers Confront Allopathic Doctors (1910–1931) (2008) Journal of Medical Humanities: Early 20th-century conflicts between alternative practitioners and mainstream medicine centered on regulation and authority.
[21] Ivermectin and COVID-19: How a Flawed Database Shaped Pandemic Response (2020) ISGlobal: Policy decisions in several countries relied on unreliable ivermectin data.
[22] A Mysterious Company’s Coronavirus Papers May Be Unraveling (2020) Science: Surgisphere data was used in major studies before being discredited, leading to retractions.
[23] How the Ivermectin Culture Wars Took Off (2021) NPR: Ivermectin became a symbol in broader political and cultural conflicts during the pandemic.
[24] Unreliable Data: How Doubt Snowballed Over COVID-19 Drug Research (2020) The Guardian: Flawed studies and poor data quality amplified false claims about ivermectin’s effectiveness.
[25] Ivermectin and the Integrity of Healthcare Evidence During COVID-19 (2022) Frontiers: Weak evidence standards and politicization affected interpretation of ivermectin research.
[26] Merck Statement on Ivermectin Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021) Merck: Manufacturer stated there was no scientific basis for ivermectin use in COVID-19.
[27] Poll: Trust in Public Health Agencies and Vaccines Falls Amid Republican Skepticism (2025) KFF: Public trust in health agencies and vaccines declined, with lower confidence concentrated among Republican respondents and linked to broader political polarization.
[28] From Anti-Government to Anti-Science (2020) American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Political polarization contributed to declining trust in scientific institutions.
[29] Health Conspiracy Theories: Drivers, Impacts, and Countermeasures (2022) International Journal of Health Equity: Misinformation spreads through distrust, identity alignment, and social networks, affecting health behaviors and policy.
[30] Why the Right Still Embraces Ivermectin (2025) The New York Times: Political identity, distrust in institutions, and alternative media contributed to continued support for ivermectin during COVID-19.
[31] What Ivermectin Can (and Can’t) Do (2025) The New York Times: Ivermectin remains effective for parasitic infections but shows no consistent clinical benefit for COVID-19.
[32] Ivermectin in Cancer Treatment: Should Healthcare Providers Caution or Explore Its Therapeutic Potential? (2025) Current Oncology Reports: Laboratory studies show ivermectin may inhibit tumor growth and affect cancer cell signaling pathways, though clinical evidence remains limited.
[33] US Cancer Institute Studying Ivermectin’s Ability to Kill Cancer Cells (2026) KFF Health News: Ongoing studies are evaluating ivermectin’s potential mechanisms in cancer treatment.
[34] Ivermectin Converts Cold Tumors Hot (2021) npj Breast Cancer: Study on ivermectin’s ability to enhance immune response in tumors.
[35] Ivermectin Takes Off Among Cancer Patients (2026) NPR: Some cancer patients used ivermectin outside clinical guidance despite limited supporting evidence.
[36] ‘You Are Not a Horse’: Americans Buying Over-the-Counter Drug to Cure Cancer (2025) News Media: Individuals used veterinary ivermectin formulations, leading to safety concerns and misuse.


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Today we’re sharing an episode of Cautionary Tales, by Tim Harford.
This show concerns Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound - one of the most popular patent medicines of the late 19th century. Mrs. Pinkham’s compound was sold as a “women’s tonic,” ideal for menopause or menstrual pain. The package promised big: "It cures bloating, headaches, nervous prostration, general debility, sleeplessness, depression, and indigestion.”
But did it, really? No, it did not. Lydia Pinkham’s compound was the epitome of a cure-all that cured nothing, a secret concoction of herbs and roots and other ambiguous ingredients that promised tremendous benefits without any evidence whatsoever. 
Eventually, it was outrage over patent medicines like Mrs. Pinkham’s that turned into the creation of the FDA, and the evidence-based medicine we have today. 
Back next week with a new episode of DRUG STORY!


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20 years ago, pharmacogenomics was all the buzz: matching specific drugs to our personal DNA was supposed to transform medicine and human health.
But here we are 20 years later, and much of that excitement has fizzled. Very few doctors are actually tailoring their treatments to individual patient DNA in the clinic.
In this special episode, I talk with Dr. Eric Topol, author of the new book Super Agers, about the promise of pharmacogenomics and the new frontiers of medicine. We talk about how he has always put science first - he shares the story of Vioxx, a pain reliever that he was early to see carried massive risks. Eric put his career on the line to let the world know about the problems.


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Ever heard of neurasthenia, aka Americanitis? It was the first epidemic of the 20th century - and it's number one symptom was insomnia.
It may have just been the electricity.
In this episode of Drug Story, we step into that sweet oblivion called sleep, and that infernal torment called insomnia. We visit hustle culture, where sleep is just an obstacle to crushing it.
And we learn about Ambien: the most popular sleeping pill ever invented. Until women started showing up in emergency rooms with amnesia...
Sources for this episode
[1] NEURASTHENIA, DEGENERACY, AND MOBILE ORGANS (1906) The British Medical Journal: Neurasthenia is defined by a state of "nervous exhaustion" and can include physical symptoms like head or spinal pain, insomnia, and constipation, along with mental depression.
[2] Neurasthenia and a Modernizing America (2003) JAMA: Introduces neurasthenia after the Civil War as a nervous-energy disorder; the term declined in use after the 1930s.
[3] ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast (2016) The Atlantic: Frames neurasthenia as a disease of living too fast in industrializing America.
[4] Insomnia and the late nineteenth-century insomniac: the case of Albert Kimball (2020) Interface Focus:The identity of the “insomniac” emerged alongside industrial-era stress and the concept of neurasthenia.
[5] A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep (2023) The Conversation: Industrialization increased insomnia rates through artificial lighting, work shifts, and societal change.
[6] The Pathophysiology of Insomnia (2015) Contemporary Reviews In Sleep Medicine: Insomnia can be influenced by genetics, cellular and physiological mechanisms, and sleep behaviors.
[7] Insomnia: a cultural history (2018) The Lancet: Contrasts pre-industrial ritualized sleep with modern increases in chronic insomnia.
[8] Phenome-wide Analysis of Diseases in Relation to Objectively Measured Sleep Traits and Comparison with Subjective Sleep Traits in 88,461 Adults (2025) Health Data Science: In a research study, poor sleep quality was associated with increased risk for 172 different diseases including Parkinson's disease and type 2 diabetes.
[9] A Short History of Sleeping Pills (2018) Sleep Review: The history of treatments for insomnia covering alcohol, opiates, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and “Z drugs” like Ambien.
[10] The Evolution and Development of Insomnia Pharmacotherapies (2007) Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: History of pharmacological treatment for insomnia: from older, less safe options like barbiturates to the current generation of medications with improved safety profile.
[11] The Big Sleep (2013) The New Yorker: In 1973, Jean-Pierre Kaplan began work on a new class of sleeping pills at Synthélabo, leading to zolpidem’s development.
[12] Critics say drug ads should be a wake-up call (2006) Star News: Critics link increased use of Ambien and Lunesta to aggressive advertising campaigns.
[13] Evaluation of the long term efficacy and safety of zolpidem-MR 12.5 mg compared to placebo, when both are administered over a long term period “as needed”, in patients with chronic primary insomnia (2008) Sanofi-Aventis: Summary of Phase III clinical trial investigating the long-term efficacy and safety of the extended-release sleep medication, zolpidem.
[14] Emergency Department Visits for Adverse Reactions Involving the Insomnia Medication Zolpidem (2013) SAMHSA: There was a 220% increase in emergency department visits related to adverse reactions from the sleep medication zolpidem between 2005 and 2010
[15] FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA approves new label changes and dosing for zolpidem products and a recommendation to avoid driving the day after using Ambien CR (2013) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration: FDA recommended lower doses and advised avoiding driving the day after using Ambien CR.
[16] FDA adds Boxed Warning for risk of serious injuries caused by sleepwalking with certain prescription insomnia medicines (2019) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration: The official safety communication from the FDA announcing a Boxed Warning for specific prescription insomnia medications, including eszopiclone, zaleplon, and zolpidem, due to reports of dangerous side effects.
[17] Zolpidem-Induced Sleepwalking, Sleep Related Eating Disorder, and Sleep-Driving: Fluorine-18-Flourodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Analysis, and a Literature Review of Other Unexpected Clinical Effects of Zolpidem (2009) Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: PET scans and literature review on zolpidem’s association with abnormal sleep behaviors.
[18] Zolpidem and Driving Impairment — Identifying Persons at Risk (2013) New England Journal of Medicine: Examines risks of zolpidem, including sleepwalking, sleep-related eating disorder, and sleep-driving.


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Pain is probably the oldest problem in medicine. It’s the way our bodies tell us that something is wrong here.
But pain has long been considered a symptom. So when medicine can’t find what’s wrong, or when medicine can’t fix the pain, well, that’s usually the end of the story. And that’s left a lot of people with chronic pain suffering in silence.
In this episode, we learn why pain is one of the great mysteries of medicine - one of the most challenging conditions to diagnose, to measure, and to treat successfully.
We explore why the worthy effort to bring pain into the light inadvertently created what may be the most devastating social crisis (ahem, opioid epidemic) of the last century.
And we look at a new pain medicine - Journavx - which is not approved for chronic pain (yet) but has a lot of people hoping for a path to peace without addiction.
Sources for this episode
[1]  "Wrestling With Pain:" John J. Bonica, MD. Autobiography (1987) The International Symposium on Pain Analgesia: Dr. John J. Bonica recounts his life as a "wrestling match" against medical indifference to establish the multidisciplinary approach to pain therapy. 
[2] Oral History Interview with John J. Bonica (1993) John C. Liebeskind History of Pain Collection: John Bonica is widely regarded as the founding father of pain management.
[3] International Symposium on Pain (1974) Raven Press: Proceedings from the first major international meeting on pain research and management.
[4] Individual Differences in Pain: Understanding the Mosaic that Makes Pain Personal (2017) PAIN: Explains how biological, psychological, and social factors shape personal pain experiences.
[5] Chronic Pain: What Does It Mean? A Review on the Use of the Term Chronic Pain in Clinical Practice (2021) Journal of Pain Research: "Chronic pain" is a semantically inaccurate and potentially misleading clinical label because it overemphasizes duration while failing to account for biopsychosocial factors.
[6] Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety in Chronic Pain (2025) JAMA: Systematic review and meta-analysis showing high rates of depression and anxiety among adults with chronic pain.
[7]  Improving Outcomes of Analgesic Treatment: Is Education Enough? (1990) Annals of Internal Medicine: The persistent undertreatment of pain is rooted in a historical medical focus on physical lesions over subjective symptoms. 
[8]  Pain as the 5th Vital Sign Toolkit (2000) The Veterans Health Administration: A comprehensive guide developed by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to institutionalize a standardized, system-wide approach to managing patient discomfort.
[9] A Capsule History of Pain Management (2003) JAMA: Historical overview of approaches to managing pain, from ancient remedies to modern treatments.
[10] Bridging Old and New in Pain Medicine: An Historical Review (2023) Cureus: Historical review linking traditional pain remedies with modern medical practices.
[11] The Opioid Epidemic: It’s Time to Place Blame Where It Belongs (2017) The Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association: Dr. Ronald Hirsch argues that the opioid crisis was driven by a network of "co-conspirators" including pharmaceutical companies, medical oversight organizations, and government agencies.
[12] The 5th Vital Sign and America’s Painkiller Epidemic (2016) The University of Arizona Health Sciences: The institutionalization of pain management led to a surge in prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths. 
[13]  The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy (2008) The American Journal of Public Health: Oxycotin’s commercial success was driven by predatory marketing tactics, such as targeting high-volume prescribers and systematically understating the risk of addiction.
[14]  The fifth vital sign: A complex story of politics and patient care (2016) Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine: Aggressive marketing and institutional mandates minimized the perceived risks of addiction, leading to the current opioid epidemic.
[15] The Pain and Opioid Epidemics: Policy and Vital Signs (2016) JAMA Health Forum: The historical movement to treat pain as a fifth vital sign inadvertently fueled a massive increase in narcotic prescriptions.
[16] Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics (1980) The New England Journal of Medicine: a 1980 letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine covers the low incidence of narcotic addiction in medical settings.  
[17] Remove Pain as 5th Vital Sign, AMA Urged (2016) Medpage Today: Medical professionals at an American Medical Association met to advocate for the removal of pain as a "fifth vital sign".
[18] FDA Approves Novel Non-Opioid Treatment for Moderate to Severe Acute Pain (2025) US Food & Drug Administration: FDA announcement of approval for a new, non-opioid treatment for moderate to severe acute pain.
[19] F.D.A. Approves Drug to Treat Pain Without Opioid Effects (2025) The New York Times: The FDA approved a non-opioid painkiller developed by Vertex.
[20] What Is Journavx, the New Opioid-Free Painkiller from Vertex? (2025) Scientific American: Journavx functions by blocking sodium ion channels to stop pain signals before they reach the central nervous system, offering a mechanism entirely different from traditional treatments.
[21] Painkillers without the addiction? The new wave of non-opioid pain relief (2025) Guaridian:  The pharmaceutical industry is shifting toward developing non-opioid pain relief to address the devastating global addiction crisis.
[22] An SCN9A channelopathy causes congenital inability to experience pain (2006) Nature: Discovery that mutations in the SCN9A gene cause congenital inability to experience pain.
[23] Chronic Pain Is a Hidden Epidemic. It’s Time for a Revolution. (2025) The New York Times Magazine: Opinion piece calling for a revolution in how chronic pain is addressed in society.


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