TAKING A MEDICATION AS PRESCRIBED IS CRITICAL to a drug’s effectiveness. But for some people, taking medications literally turns their stomach – and if a medication leaves a persistently bitter taste, many people, especially children and elderly patients, will take it inconsistently or not at all. In the online Journal of Biological Chemistry, Joanne Wang’s research team in the University of Washington School of Pharmacy describe a novel mechanism for active drug accumulation and secretion in salivary gland epithelial cells that leads to the lingering bad taste of metformin, a frontline prescription drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. Full story…