From Memios
The Longevity Letter
Practical writing and video on living strong and active into your 90s. No hype, no supplements to sell. Just what the evidence supports and what it looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.
579 items
MedicationsMorphine
Morphine reliably relieves moderate to severe cancer pain: across 62 trials pooled by Cochrane, 96% of individually reported participants reached no worse than mild pain.
2026-10-03 · 25 min read
MedicationsMoxifloxacin
For community-acquired pneumonia, meta-analyses of randomised trials put moxifloxacin on a level with beta-lactam-based standard therapy for cure and for death.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read
MedicationsMupirocin
For the one thing it is approved to treat on the skin — impetigo — the evidence is good: a Cochrane review of 68 randomised trials found topical antibiotics cured impetigo about twice as often as placebo.
2026-10-03 · 22 min read
MedicationsNebivolol
It lowers blood pressure about as well as other common classes, and that is the extent of what has been shown for it.
2026-10-03 · 22 min read
MedicationsNifedipine
Well established. Nifedipine lowers blood pressure and relieves angina caused by coronary artery spasm.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsNirmatrelvir; Ritonavir
In the trial that led to approval, EPIC-HR, unvaccinated adults at high risk who started the drug within three days of symptoms had a 0.77% rate of COVID-19 hospitalisation or death by day 28 versus 7.01% on placebo - an absolute difference of 6.32 percentage points.
2026-10-03 · 22 min read
MedicationsNitrofurantoin
Well established. For simple bladder infection in women the evidence is good.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsNitroglycerin
The honest summary is that nitroglycerin is a reliable symptom reliever and a poor outcome drug.
2026-10-03 · 33 min read
MedicationsNorethindrone
For contraception the evidence is reasonably solid: a 2023 review of 54 studies found a median typical-use Pearl Index of 1.63 pregnancies per 100 woman-years for progestin-only pills.
2026-10-03 · 23 min read
MedicationsNortriptyline
Well established. Approved only for depression, nortriptyline is used far more widely than that.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsNystatin
Nystatin kills Candida on contact with the surfaces it touches, and its evidence is correspondingly local and uneven. A systematic review found nystatin pastilles clearly better than placebo for denture-associated candidiasis.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read
MedicationsOfloxacin
Ofloxacin clears common bacterial infections: in a 688-patient randomised trial in women with uncomplicated cystitis a 3-day course eradicated the organism in 97% and achieved clinical success in 96%.
2026-10-03 · 36 min read
MedicationsOlanzapine
It reduces the symptoms of psychosis and mania, and the randomised evidence for that is strong.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read
MedicationsOmega-3-acid ethyl esters
The approved use is narrow and the evidence for it is clean: in two small randomised trials.
2026-10-03 · 39 min read
MedicationsOseltamivir
The question of what oseltamivir actually achieves is one of the most publicly fought-over in modern drug evidence, because for years most of the trial data sat unpublished with the manufacturer.
2026-10-03 · 31 min read
MedicationsOxcarbazepine
Oxcarbazepine's active metabolite blocks voltage-sensitive sodium channels, which stops over-excitable nerve membranes firing repeatedly.
2026-10-03 · 42 min read
MedicationsOxybutynin
For an overactive bladder, systematic reviews of randomised trials find that antimuscarinics including oxybutynin produce real but small average improvements in leakage and urinary frequency compared with placebo.
2026-10-03 · 24 min read
MedicationsPancrelipase
For people whose pancreas cannot produce enough digestive enzymes, pancrelipase measurably restores fat and protein absorption. In cystic fibrosis trials.
2026-10-03 · 46 min read
MedicationsPhentermine
Limited evidence. Phentermine produces modest short-term weight loss on top of diet.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
MedicationsPioglitazone
Pioglitazone makes muscle, fat and liver tissue more responsive to the insulin a person already makes, which lowers blood glucose.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read
MedicationsPolyethylene Glycol 3350
Well established. The evidence here is consistent in direction but weak in quality.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
MedicationsPolymyxin B sulfate and trimethoprim
Limited evidence. The evidence base specific to this combination is thin and old.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsPramipexole
For Parkinson's disease, trials show it improves motor symptoms and, started before levodopa, delays motor complications.
2026-10-03 · 35 min read
MedicationsPrazosin
Prazosin relaxes small arteries by blocking alpha-1 receptors, lowering blood pressure by a modest amount: a Cochrane review of alpha blockers put the best estimate at -8/-5 mmHg and said even that is likely an overestimate.
2026-10-03 · 19 min read