YouTubes, TED Talks, webinars and other videos found on the web. Prescription drug focus but also discussions of the drug approval process, disease/disorders and wellness.
YouTubes
Following are recommended YouTubes and publishers and direct links to selected video series.
Miscellaneous
- Drug Development and FDA Review Process – Judy Heidebrink at Michigan Medicine
- Safe Use of Benzodiazepines: Clinical, Regulatory, and Public Health Perspectives – Duke/Margolis with FDA
Armando Hasudungan
Armando is known for his hand-drawn medical illustrations and explanations. His Pharmacology videos include detailed explanations of drugs, their mechanisms, and how they affect the body.
Detailed discussions about common prescription drugs, including their side effects, uses, and what to expect. Over 1100 videos! Prolific by any standard, pharmacist Garrett Campbell has been posting detailed overviews about prescription drugs for over 7 years.
GoodRx YouTube channel covers a wide range of prescription drugs, cost-saving tips, and healthcare topics.
MedPage Today
Medical news and analysis. Over 2000 videos going back to 2008.
“MedPage Today’s video team brings you 30 years of experience in video journalism and access to over 3,000 key opinion leaders within the medical profession. It is the only medical news service that links consumer medical news with medical analysis needed by clinicians to better care for their patients.
MedPage Today’s video library includes interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine, expert analysis, and hot topics in medical news.” – Youtube About
Healthcare Triage
Hosted by Dr. Aaron Carroll, Healthcare Triage covers healthcare topics, including prescription medications, healthcare policies, and drug efficacy. It’s a blend of education and medical science commentary.
Run by a licensed pharmacist, Pharmacist Tips dives into drug information, including how medications work, their side effects, and general advice on prescriptions. It’s useful for both patients and healthcare professionals.
The Drug Classroom
The Drug Classroom explores the pharmacology, chemistry, and effects of various substances, including prescription drugs.
“The Therapeutics Initiative (TI) was established in 1994 by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in cooperation with the Department of Family Practice at The University of British Columbia with its mission to provide physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, allied health professionals & the public with up-to-date, independent, evidence-based, practical information on healthcare interventions.” – YouTube About
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
“FDA is responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medical products more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medical products and foods to maintain and improve their health.” – Youtube About
TED Talks
Following are selected TED Talks with a prescription drug focus. A broader collection compiled by TED which includes drugs, diseases and general health care issues can be found here – Medicine Collection.
TEDx posts on YouTube
- The Hidden Realities of Weight Loss Medications | Nick Nickolson | TEDxTulane (2025)
- 3 steps for medication safety | Lidia Molinara & Lidia Molinara | TEDxSugarLand (2024)
- Dose of Action: Prescription Drugs, Help or Harm? | April Rovero | TEDxDoughertyValleyHS (2019)
Katherine Eban: A dose of reality about generic drugs (2020)
“Investigative journalist Katherine Eban set out to report on a seemingly straightforward question: Are generic drugs really identical to their brand-name counterparts? The answer sparked a decade of interviews, meetings with whistleblowers, on-the-ground reporting across four continents and digging into confidential FDA documents. In this alarming talk, she takes us inside overseas manufacturing plants and exposes the fraud behind many low-cost generic medicines.”
Céline Valéry: The dangers of mixing drugs (2019)
“Which of the following is risky behavior: a person taking cholesterol medicine with grapefruit juice? Or a person taking Acetaminophen before going out for drinks? Or a person on blood thinners who takes an aspirin? Turns out, all of them are risky. Each has inadvertently created a drug interaction that could lead to serious complications. Céline Valéry describes the dangers of mixing substances. [Directed by Cabong Studios, narrated by Susan Zimmerman, music by Matheus Wittmann].”
Joshua W. Pate: The mysterious science of pain (2019)
In 1995, the British Medical Journal published a report about a builder who accidentally jumped onto a nail, which pierced straight through his steel-toed boot. He was in such agonizing pain that any movement was unbearable. But when the doctors took off his boot, they discovered that the nail had never touched his foot at all. What’s going on? Joshua W. Pate investigates the experience of pain. [Directed by Artrake Studio, narrated by Addison Anderson].
Céline Valéry: How does your body process medicine? (2017)
“Have you ever wondered what happens to a painkiller, like ibuprofen, after you swallow it? Medicine that slides down your throat can help treat a headache, a sore back, or a throbbing sprained ankle. But how does it get where it needs to go in the first place? Céline Valéry explains how your body processes medicine. [Directed by Daniel Gray, narrated by Julianna Zarzycki, music by Samuel Baker].”
Russ Altman: What really happens when you mix medications? (2015)
“If you take two different medications for two different reasons, here’s a sobering thought: your doctor may not fully understand what happens when they’re combined, because drug interactions are incredibly hard to study. In this fascinating and accessible talk, Russ Altman shows how doctors are studying unexpected drug interactions using a surprising resource: search engine queries.”
Alyson McGregor: Why medicine often has dangerous side effects for women (2014)
“You might not know this: Many of the medicines we take — common drugs like Ambien and everyday aspirin — were only ever tested on men. And the unknown side effects for women can be dangerous, even deadly. Alyson McGregor studies the differences between male and female patients; in this fascinating talk she explains how the male model became our framework for medical research … and what women and men need to ask their doctors to get the right care for their bodies.”
Ben Goldacre: What doctors don’t know about the drugs they prescribe (2012)
“When a new drug gets tested, the results of the trials should be published for the rest of the medical world — except much of the time, negative or inconclusive findings go unreported, leaving doctors and researchers in the dark. In this impassioned talk, Ben Goldacre explains why these unreported instances of negative data are especially misleading and dangerous.”
Francis Collins: We need better drugs — now (2012)
“Today we know the molecular cause of 4,000 diseases, but treatments are available for only 250 of them. So what’s taking so long? Geneticist and physician Francis Collins explains why systematic drug discovery is imperative, even for rare and complex diseases, and offers a few solutions — like teaching old drugs new tricks.”