Eli Lilly had a blockbuster drug for sepsis that would save millions of lives. 10 years later, the FDA recommended that Xigris be withdrawn from the market. Remarkably,  Eli Lilly profited from this ineffective drug most of the time it was under patent. What lesson from Xigris’s failure can we learn about the immune system, about sepsis, and evolution?

#2 The Evolutionary Lesson of Xigris

Joe Alcock and Coffee Brown have a discussion about evolution, medical decision making, and cognitive biases. We focus on a few major cognitive biases - achor bias, attribution bias, immediacy bias, halo effect, among others. We consider how our cognitive and sensory apparatus evolved in ways that can lead us to make mistakes. We explore the idea that the smoke detector principle can affect doctors' behavior and make ER docs more risk averse. How can we make better decisions with these cognitive pitfalls?

#19 Cognitive Biases

Coffee Brown and Joe Alcock discuss the perils and pitfalls of too much oxygen. We discuss the recent IOTA study - a metaanalysis done by Paul Young's team and the upcoming ICUROX trial. This evidence is going to change how we practice medicine. It also has insights for evolutionary biology - our bodies can be self destructive, as in heart attacks and strokes, but healing processes may rely on normal to low normal oxygen levels. Too much oxygen may indeed be a bad thing

#20 Too Much Oxygen?

In part two Joe Alcock, Coffee Brown, Paul Watson talk about how evolution might guide the treatment of patients with mood disorders. We talk about the evolution of sickness behavior, the utility of antidepressant drugs, and the role of the microbiome in depression and anxiety.

#28 Depression - Feature or Bug? Part 2

Joe Alcock and guests talk about evolution, adaptation, medical care, epidemics, emerging diseases, and the microbiome.

#2 The Evolutionary Lesson of Xigris

EvolutionMedicine

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