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The 10 Weirdest Drug Stories of the Month

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: May 31, 2011 / 2:03 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

What is Holland's No. 1 export? Why is the cure for involuntary hysterics no laughing matter? And who is taking Viagra on Mt. Everest? The answers all happened in May 2011 ...

Dutch women export their urine as pregnancy drug
Pregnant women's urine contains human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, which increases other women's chances of getting pregnant. Mothers for Mothers has been collecting urine from volunteers for 80 years. One volunteer, Cathy, fills eight bottles a week.
Price of cure for involuntary laughing will wipe that smile off your face
Avanir's Neudexta is made from two cheap generic drugs that retail for about $20 a month. It's a therapy for pseudobulbar affect -- severe involuntary emotional outbursts, such as hysterical laughing. But Neudexta costs $600.
Alternative uses for Viagra: Multiple sclerosis; aid to Everest climbers
In animal studies, 50 percent of subjects recovered from symptoms of MS after taking Viagra. Meanwhile, "Member of an Everest expedition led by a mountaineer from the region are using Viagra tablets to help them get up," deadpans the Northern echo. The drug dilates blood vessels allowing climbers to absorb more oxygen in the thin atmosphere.
Janitor says worst job ever was cleaning bathrooms at J&J's Ortho Pharmaceutical
"That whole experience did a number on me in ways I'm only now fully comprehending, but it was the once-weekly bathroom cleanup duty that wreaked unrelenting havoc on three of my five senses. I knew guys could be untidy. But women? Let's just say I saw it all."
Abbott and Mylan CEOs are most-addicted to use of corporate jets
Abbott Labs chartered roughly 2,600 flights in the four years; Mylan's CEO made 49 trips to Las Vegas on the company dime.
Garfield fights kidney disease in cats for Bayer
Cats will hide their symptoms until 75 percent of the damage is done. Isn't that just typical?
Allergan CEO: DOJ compliance is "80% headache"
David Pyott minced no words in describing how he feels about the corporate integrity agreement he was forced to sign with the Department of Justice over the mismarketing of Botox: "About 80% of it is a headache, and it's time consuming."
Bay State restaurant owners lied when they said pharma gift ban was bad for business
Food outlet operators complained that ban on buying lunch for doctors was hurting business but numbers show they're having their best year ever.
Viagra may make you deaf
I said, "VIAGRA MAY MAKE YOU ..." oh never mind.
Bristol-Myers Squibb poisoner pleads not guilty Authorities say Tianle Li got the chemical at work and slipped it in her husband's food between mid-November and Jan. 26, when he died at a Princeton hospital.

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