Candy!!!
Pharmaceutical companies are working harder than ever to create candy flavored pills for us to pop. Last year certain prescription drugs were released in the US in candy flavored variants, and the reviews have been mostly favorable. Although many people are concerned about the abusablilty of drugs that are pleasant to swallow as well as how easily they will be confused for candy by children, the drug companies will most likely go ahead with their plans. The scientifically interesting part of this is just how these new pills work: effervescence. The melt in your mouth pills can drive compounds into your bloodstream with out having to go through your stomach like most pills because of the effervescent properties of the breaking down the pill. The bubbly action can change local pH in your saliva, and also actually push compounds across membranes that would otherwise have been impermeable. This is great for drug designers since most drugs have to take the digestive properties of the liver into account, which is where the majority of most drugs are filtered from the blood and hence never reach the bloodstream. Effervescence in this way will actually make some drugs more effective. Not mention the fact that it will make pills a heck of a lot easier to swallow, and therefore easier on people with sensitive stomachs.
current science news posted by Kirsten at 7/18/2002 04:52:00 PM
Scientists
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