Tiny little pills.

You know we love Advil around this place. Sinus pain from allergies, muscle aches from yardwork or oversize dogs, tension headaches from editing books by idiots -- Advil helps with them all. I'm still demanding that those dummies at the Nobel place slap one of their big ol' prizes on Stewart Adams, the man who invented ibuprofen, but no -- they'd rather give the sack o' cash to plagiarists and other liars.

Okay, whatever. Swedes.

But our question today is: Can ibuprofen actually be improved?

The drug companies always want to come up with ways to improve a product to make it more effective and get that money pumping again. But how do you improve on something as awesome as Advil? They made the gel caps (or Liqui-Gels), which was one brilliant move -- easier to swallow and faster to work. Surely, we've now reached the pinnacle of Adviliciousness, right?

NOT SO FAST! says parent company Pfizer. Now we have Advil in Tiny Pills!

Say WHAT?

Say hey!

Advil Liqui-Gels Minis are smaller than the regular pills -- no major surprise there. How much smaller?

Less than half the size, I think.

And yet these fat little pills hold the same 200 mg of ibuprofen as the big salami-shaped pills. Inconceivable!

I jest, but pill swallowing can be a serious problem. It's not just that the person has an oversensitive gag reflex (although I suppose it could be). There is a real condition called dysphagia, generally caused by a problem in the throat or esophagus. Parkinson's, esophageal spasm, MD, MS, GERD, stroke, esophageal diverticula, scleroderma -- these are just some of the things that can make pill swallowing hard. Although Pfizer's not advertising these baby Advils specifically for people with these issues, it's clear that they are intending them for just such customers.

I wonder, in fact, why they made the pills so big to begin with. Your average campus Marxist crybaby would start screaming that it was to make the bottle bigger so you'd think you were getting more for your money, but let's not jump to such a conclusion. Perhaps the way ibuprofen was formulated initially required its dissolution in a greater amount of fluid, an issue that has been addressed. I don't know; do you?

One thing I can say is that those little Advils can get away from you fast. The slick surface and the round shape can lead one to pop right out of your fingers and skitter away on the floor, which can be a real issue if you have small children or adventurous pets who like to gulp down whatever they find. Care is needed.

I have to say that the new pills are kinda cute, though. That has to count for something.