Making drugs and supplements
easier to understand.
One drug or supplement taken apart in plain language, so you feel confident about what you are putting in your body.
Stop paying for the part of your $600 a year that does nothing
MEDIAN US SUPPLEMENT SPEND, $50 A MONTH · CRN / IPSOS CONSUMER SURVEY 2024
★ WRITTEN BY A LICENSED PHARMACIST WHO FORMULATES SUPPLEMENTS ★
An honest letter to the reader
I failed my board exams in 2021 and walked away from pharmacy.
I graduated with a PharmD in 2019 and never got licensed. I sat the boards, failed, and left the career I had spent six years training for. For four years I coached people in gyms instead and told myself that was the plan.
In 2025 I started studying again, around three kids and a supplement company I was already running. I sat the boards a second time in August 2026 and passed. I am licensed now.
I am telling you that first because it is the part most people would leave out, and because it is why I write this the way I do. I know what it is like to be on the wrong side of not understanding something.
The other thing you should know: I formulate supplements for a living. That means I see the manufacturing side, the marketing side and the clinical side of the same product. Most people only ever see the marketing. This newsletter is the other two.
I will not tell you what to buy, and I am not selling you anything inside these emails. I will tell you what a thing does, how good the evidence is, and where the label is quietly working against you.
Frequently asked
Before you hand over an email
How often does it come?
Once a week, Thursday mornings. One drug or supplement per issue. If I have nothing worth saying that week, I would rather skip it than pad it.
Are you going to sell me supplements?
Not inside the newsletter. I do run a supplement company, Pare & Prune, and I say so openly. But the issues are not adverts for it, and if something I sell is not the right answer to a question, I will say that too.
Is this medical advice?
No. It is education. I am a licensed pharmacist, not your pharmacist, and I do not know your history, your labs or what else you take. Everything here is meant to help you ask your prescriber or pharmacist a better question, never to replace them.
Who is it for?
People who already take something and want to know whether it is worth taking. You do not need a science background. I define anything technical the first time it comes up.
What do you do with my email?
Send you the newsletter. That is it. No selling it, no renting it, no sharing it, and the unsubscribe link is at the bottom of every issue.
Free, weekly, and you can leave whenever you like.