why doesn't Tylenol come with the antidote already in it?

The TL;DR of their response is "thanks for contacting us, but we don't know any more about product R&D than you do." Never hurts to ask, though.
#chemistry #antidote #acetaminophen #paracetamol

[YodaWhat]

*NOT double size!* If you double the content weight and it is all the same density, then the capsule would only be 26% bigger in every direction NOT 100% bigger, as stated.

[josephcharles]

Let's go! It would be awesome to eventually see this on shelves because of that email. There are so many compounds people do not know about that are truly life saving. We live in the most interesting time as far as medicine is concerned.

[thrawn]

Im sure those are all very good reasons they aren't doing it and not because it would be expensive and reduce their short term profit on the product to solve a long term problem.

[martinmorales]

Just take 2 250mg tylenol + 250 mg NAC, no? Size stays relatively the same. Lots of medicines ask you to take two pills.

[laoch]

The anti-caking agents & bulking agents in both pills might be able to be reduced for a combo pill, so could probably be the same size pill.

[nickfotopoulos]

They probably don't want to do that because if they market is as safer, people will take irresponsible amounts and it'll cause more harm than it reduces.

[rdizzy]

I bet it would reduce it's effectiveness, either in total time the medication functions for, or in overall strength of effectiveness directly. Also, NAC is far more expensive than acetaminophen, it would triple the cost of tylenol.

[juliavixen]

Take two 500mg pills (with 250mg NAC) rather than one 500mg pill (with 0mg NAC). This isn't difficult.

[oscarfernandoofpublicnature]

Density and molar mass are very similar, so maybe they do need to be 1:1... But acetaminophen oral absorption can be 90%, whilst NAC is only about 10%.

[WillemPenn]

And acetaminophen is not terribly effective to begin with. It is no better than placebo at treating musculoskeletal pain or chronic pain. So what did they give me last time I was at the ER and they diagnosed me with back pain? Acetaminophen. Because my kidneys aren’t great and I can’t have NSAIDs. I asked to not be given anything instead since they were just going to be damaging my liver and not providing any relief, but they refused and gave me IV acetaminophen. 😖

[ronmaximilian]

The oroblem us alcohol. Taking NAC sfter drinking damages the liver.

[Cavendish-]

But theres already combinations of acetaminophen and NAC called Sistenol created by Dexa Medica

[anarchosnowflakist]

interesting, though I'm not sure what their answer meant, also even if there are disadvantages I'd wager people would prefer to have the possibility, even if it doesn't replace paracetamol that's alone in the pill

[glitchsister]

there's no reason not wanting a headache should have to lead to lasting liver damage, who cares if it smells or an obtuse size its medicine

[ross]

I have been taking them in stoichiometric equivalent amounts good to know I can lower the NAC ratio

[ChristopherCurtis]

I've never smelled my NAC, but ... yeah, uhg!

[Aaron-]

Who's overdosing on acetaminophen?