Behind every miracle drug is a story

Have you ever wondered how many drugs are behind the counter at your local pharmacy?

According to Thomas Goetz — a journalist, entrepreneur, and host of the new podcast “Drug Story” —  “there are over 3,000 drugs behind a typical pharmacist counter.” And behind each drug is a story.

On “Drug Story,” which debuted in January, Goetz picks one drug and examines its history, the disease it treats, and how it intersects with society and public health. “In every drug, every medication, there is a much larger story to tell about health and medicine and society and business and economics,” he told me on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast.”

We talked about Ambien, Ozempic, and how drugs attempt to treat the ways modern life is incompatible with the human body; how his thinking about weight loss drugs has changed over the years; and much more — including my ill-fated attempts to feed a baby salmon puree to stave off fish allergies.