Designer Drugs, RFID & 'Tansfusion Confusion.'

I'm so glad its Friday. You? Getting through these two articles just about depleted my few remaining braincells. That's because the first one didn't make a lot of sense or seemed incomplete and the second one, well, never mind the amazing potential of designer drug science, nanotechnology and all the rest -- just get me an Excedrin! Notice, too, if you go take a look at these offerings, both have typos. We nevver havee typoes hear!

Anyway, the first one caught my attention because for a moment I thought it was implying that RFID was somehow going to be a nano-component of the designer drug itself. Upon closer scrutiny, that notion was dispelled. And, by the way, the term 'designer drug' apparently no longer refers to those concoctions cooked up in dorm rooms -- or so I'm told that's what people used to do.

First, there's this, from the RFid Gazette.Try saying the six sylabble word 'pharmacogenomics' six times fast... where's that Excedrin!

RFID and Nanotechlogy together given speed to a new branch of science called "Pharmacogenomics" which in layman terms means that the age of designer drugs is dawning upon us. In Pharmacogenomics, doctors customize drugs to a person's unique genetic makeup and medical condition. These "designer drugs" can revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry by reducing the cost and length of clinical trials.
Where do the RFID tags come in the picture? RFID tags help doctors match medications to patients. This can eliminate cases of "transfusion confusion" and medical errors.

Naturally, I sought to know more. But in the second piece, the most illuminating thing I learned is that some of the early developments in this area have been real killers, and by that they don't mean blockbusters... they mean deadly doses of dreadful things. The comments are by Dr. David Jacobson, director of technology at PricewaterhouseCoopers. I don't know if he's a doctor doctor or, you know, a Piled higher & Deeper doctor. Anyway, get this:

An early example of a designer drug was Practolol, which was invented as a beta-1 receptor in the 1970s. “It turned out to be a killer,” he said. The drug caused corneal punctures, blindness and even death; 23 people were killed and at least as many blinded. It was pulled off the shelf four or five years later.

Four or five years later? You got to love that swift response, yes? But that was 30 years ago. It now looks like progress has been made, RFID is becoming a part of the equation, and maybe something will actually come of all this.