MedShadow Foundation Blog

The heavily marketed memory supplement has faced years of scrutiny over its science. It still became one of the best-known brain health products in America. FACT CHECKED In 2007, a Wisconsin-based company, Quincy Bioscience, launched a product called Prevagen. It contains one main ingredient, apoaequorin, a protein originally isolated from bioluminescent jellyfish off the coast of Washington state.

FACT CHECKED WEBINARS Learn about your medications and treatment options straight from independent experts. WATCH The rise of remote work, constant smartphone use, and the industrialization of the natural world have all pushed Americans toward a shared reality: we are spending more of our lives indoors, with fewer opportunities to interact with nature than perhaps ever before.

Dr. Beau Anderson, Ph.D. Associate Dean and a Professor at Pace University in the College of Health Professions, and Associate Clinical Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine As a NIH-funded researcher, Associate Dean and Professor at Pace University, Dr. Anderson provides practical, evidence-based guidance for people who want acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other complementary treatments.

FACT CHECKED People rarely think about their hearing when it’s working well; it’s only when something feels off that we start to take notice. Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic physical conditions in the United States, and the risk increases steadily with age: less than 1% of infants are born with hearing impairment, but about 15% of people 18 and older report difficulty hearing.

Fact Checked FACT CHECKED One night in July 2022, a month after his first bout of COVID-19, Dan Elton woke up around 2:00 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. Having gone to bed just four hours earlier, he felt far from rested, but at 6:00 a.m., he surrendered and went to make coffee. Elton, then 34, knew that sleep disruptions are a common after-effect of COVID, but he hoped his bad night had been a fluke. It wasn’t. Over the following weeks, the pre-dawn awakenings continued.

Americans are waking up to the fact that we’ve been tolerating unacceptable failure rates for drugs that are supposed to be safe and effective. Our upcoming webinar examines the changes and incentives needed to improve the drug system’s quality control and supply chains, and ensure everyone can access safe, reliable generic drugs.

Medications have many benefits, but it’s essential to know how to balance these against their potential side effects. MedShadow is a nonprofit foundation that focuses on the safest ways to take over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription (Rx) medications. Our name derives from the fact that side effects can sometimes be difficult to recognize, which is why we work to illuminate and explain medication reactions that may be minimized or obscured.

WEBINAR #2 OF A SERIES | September 24 4:00–5:30 PM ET We all deserve generic drugs that we can trust. Our latest webinar will connect consumers and healthcare professionals to whistleblowers and industry insiders who are working on real solutions to improve drug quality and safety for everyone. Gain critical insight into efforts to change the supply chain for generics so everyone can have access to safe and effective drugs.

Fact Checked FACT CHECKED Over the past few months, MedShadow has examined inconsistencies in the quality of ADHD medications. Our reporting uncovered evidence that certain generic medications dissolve at different rates than the brand-name drug, leaving patients dealing with uneven dosing when prescriptions are filled from different manufacturers. We also identified problems with the FDA’s ability to regulate the labs that make these medications.

Fact Checked FACT CHECKED On June 27, 2024, Mary Louise Cormier, age 91, was admitted to the MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital Emergency Department in Brunswick, Maine, after showing signs of lethargy and minimal responsiveness. According to her daughter, Cormier had taken generic 750 mg potassium chloride capsules just two days earlier. The medication is commonly prescribed to patients with low potassium levels to help with their nerve and muscle function.