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MEDICINES that could be very useful, but which have toxic side effects, could become safer and more widely available thanks to some unexplained chemistry.

Many potential drugs are fat-soluble chemicals that do not dissolve or mix well with water, blood and other body fluids. To turn them into medicines, they are usually dissolved in a “carrier” oil, and then an additive such as a detergent is used to disperse the oily solution in water. A more sophisticated approach is to encase the drugs in microscopic water-soluble particles. But the carrier oils and additives can have unpleasant side effects, trigger allergic…

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