The Pharma Files

In 1992, a businessman published a book called Sharks Don’t Get Cancer — and overnight, a legitimate line of Harvard and MIT cancer research became the justification for a multimillion-dollar supplement industry. This episode traces how real science,... more

In the 1840s, a product called Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup became one of the best-selling medicines in America and Britain — promising exhausted parents relief from teething, colic, and fretfulness. It delivered, every time, because it contained mo... more

In the 1920s, Nobel laureate Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells metabolize glucose differently — a real finding now used in PET scans worldwide. But his leap to conclude that cancer is caused by oxygen deprivation sparked a century of misapplied... more

In the early 20th century, as tuberculosis ravaged populations and effective treatments remained out of reach, physicians turned to a seemingly simple intervention: the “milk cure.” By prescribing patients three to four quarts of milk daily alongside... more

In the 1930s, inventor Royal Raymond Rife claimed he had discovered a revolutionary way to treat disease: by identifying the unique electromagnetic frequencies of microorganisms and destroying them with precisely tuned energy. Using a custom-built mi... more

In the 1930s, psychiatrists searching for answers to schizophrenia embraced a radical intervention: insulin coma therapy. By deliberately driving patients into deep hypoglycemic coma—sometimes daily for weeks—physicians believed they could “reset” th... more

In the 1920s, physician Max Gerson proposed a radical idea: cancer was not a genetic disease, but a metabolic one—driven by toxins, nutritional imbalance, and a failing liver. His therapy promised healing through strict diet, intensive juicing, suppl... more

In the late 1950s, thalidomide was marketed as a gentle, “safe” sedative—even for pregnant women—before it caused one of the most devastating drug tragedies in modern history. This episode explores how a lack of testing led to thousands of birth defe... more