#842: The Story Behind EpiPen, The Rise of Food Allergies, and What Doctors Got Wrong

Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs, this is Tim Ferris. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferris Show, My Last of 2025. This time around, we have an experimental format, which I do very rarely. But this one features the first episode of a brand new podcast launching next week called Drug Story. Why would I do this? I rarely feature episodes from other shows, but every once in a blue moon. I highlight something because I think it's well worth your time. This one came over the transom to me. It changed how I think about allergies, and I say that as someone who carries an EpiPen and has wondered why on earth have food allergies seemed to skyrocket in the last few years. Decades.

And what a wild rob. I learned a ton. Drug Story is a podcast that tells the story of the disease business one drug at a time. Each episode explores one disease and one drug, and it kicks off with EpiPen and Food. Allergies. A quick teaser. What if I told you that a well-meaning medical recommendation may have caused millions of kids to develop food allergies? Yes.

That and more in this episode. So make sure to subscribe to Drug Story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your fine podcasts. You can also go to Drugstory.co and learn more. The host is someone I've known for a long time, Thomas Getz, G O E T Z. He is many things, but Among others, he is a senior impact fellow at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. And much before that, Thomas was the executive editor at Wired, that's how we connected, which he led to a dozen national magazine awards from 2001 to 2013. His writing has been repeatedly selected for the best American science writing and best technology writing anthologies. He's also written best selling books and much more. One quick PS before you go and jump into this episode, which I think you're really going to enjoy. To help you kick off 2026, check out Henry Shookman. S H U K M A N. He's a past podcast guest, incredible, and one of the few in the world authorized to teach Sambozen. He is a master, and Henry's app, The Way, has changed my life. I've been using it daily, often twice a day, hundreds upon hundreds of sessions, and it's lowered my anxiety more than I thought possible. And that's something that I saw within I would say 10 to 14 days. You can get 30 free sessions

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