Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines

In this "entertaining medical series" (The Sunday Times, U.K.), Dr. Michael Mosley shows how drugs have revolutionized medicine and changed the course of human history. Unfolding over a period of 200 years, it's an extraordinary tale of daring, self-experimentation, revelation, genius, and outright luck.

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Created By
Status	Ended
Original Name	Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
First Air Date	July 22, 2013
Last Air Date	August 5, 2013
Seasons	1
Episodes	3
Episode Runtime	1h 0min
Language	English
Original Language	English
Production Countries	United Kingdom
Production Companies
Networks	BBC Four

S01E03

Poison

Dr Michael Mosley ends the series with a look at poisons, exploring the turning points when scientists went from finding antidotes to poisons to applying poisons as a cure - celebrating the eccentrics and mavericks whose breakthroughs were to pave the way for some of the most striking treatments of modern medicine. Of the medicines explored in this series, those that are derived from poisons are perhaps the most extraordinary. The story of turning poisons into medicines encompasses the planet's most deadly substances, in which we turned killers into cures.

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