Pills and Potions
The race is on to find and manufacture a drug to win the battle against coronavirus. It is a frantic, yet controlled controlled contest. Competition is fierce, the world holding its breath. The renowned Oxford research team is lying third in the first stage - human testing - with the USA leading. It is fiercely competitive but not for the pharmaceutical industry's main aim. Discovering a new drug can make a fortune.This time it is an international team effort, undertaken for the mutual good.
From time immemorial humans have been seeking remedies. China, Egypt, India and Greece are among the countries with an ages-old health heritage. In Olympian mythology the snake was a god with healing power - today it is a hospital emblem.
Leeches, another revered medication from the past, are used today, plants have always been ingredients in healing.
The late eighteenth century saw the days of the pseudo, cowboy doctors. They travelled the west peddling their wares from wagons and tents, using barkers and entertainers to drum up customers. They offered hope to sufferers, with cheap and easy remedies and miracle cures, magic potions. Snake oil panaceas, useless and dangerous. Even Europe had their pedlars. The first patented medications were opium and alcohol based. They did not heal but at least made the patients feel better, for a while.
These days, alternative medicine containing ingredients used for centuries is trusted by millions. Intensive research is the road to finding not a pill or potion, but a life saving new drug. It is a race against time with countless lives at stake. Victory over the deadly pandemic cannot come soon enough.
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