“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

British-Nigerian businessman and social media influencer Igho “Tiny” Ubiribo, 43, died after undergoing a cosmetic penis enlargement procedure in Bangkok, Thailand.

According to findings from a UK coroner’s inquest, Ubiribo, who was also known as Denisi or Ego, reportedly underwent the procedure on March 5, 2026, while travelling with his wife. The treatment involved injections containing hyaluronic acid and lidocaine.

What Happened?

According to reports on the inquest, Ubiribo developed chest pain and repeatedly lost consciousness later that day while receiving a massage.

He was taken to Sukhumvit Hospital in Bangkok, where his condition deteriorated rapidly. Doctors reportedly attempted CPR for more than 100 minutes, but he died before a CT scan could be completed.

A post-mortem examination in the UK subsequently found that he had suffered a pulmonary embolism, a potentially life-threatening blockage of blood flow in the lungs.

The coroner’s findings reportedly linked the fatal embolism to the substances injected during the cosmetic procedure. Reports say material consistent with the filler was found in the lungs.

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About Pulmonary Embolism

A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood vessel supplying the lungs becomes blocked, most commonly by a blood clot that has travelled from another part of the body.

It can cause sudden chest pain, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, or fainting and can become fatal if the blockage is severe.

In Ubiribo's case, the coroner’s findings linked the embolism to material associated with the cosmetic injection rather than describing a conventional blood clot travelling from the legs, which is unusual.

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Can Penile Fillers Be Risky?

Complications can include infection, swelling, tissue damage, deformity, nodules, and vascular complications. If an injected substance enters a blood vessel, there can be potentially serious consequences.

The risks can also depend on the substance used, injection technique, the setting in which the procedure is performed, and the medical expertise and competence of the person administering it.

Ubiribo’s case does not mean that every penile filler procedure causes pulmonary embolism, but it indicates that cosmetic procedures are not risk-free simply because they are elective.

The American Urological Association and Urology Care Foundation have previously stated that subcutaneous fat injection for increasing penile girth has not been shown to be safe or effective.

Ubiribo’s death has now renewed attention on the risks associated with cosmetic penile augmentation, particularly when procedures are undertaken abroad.

An international clinical trial in the UK is examining whether Alzheimer’s disease can be delayed or prevented before symptoms like memory loss and confusion begin. The trial marks a significant shift from treating existing symptoms to intervening much earlier to delay or prevent the disease.

The Phase III PrevenTRON trial, led in the UK by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, will study the experimental drug trontinemab in around 1,600 adults aged 55 to 80 who have no symptoms of Alzheimer’s but are at high risk of developing the disease in the future.

Who Is Eligible To Take Part In The Alzheimer’s Prevention Trial?

To be eligible to participate, the participant must have no memory problems. Researchers will use blood testing to look for p-tau217, a biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s-related changes in the brain and increased future risk of cognitive decline.

The trial is recruiting internationally. At least 15 UK hospitals are expected to participate. Surrey and Borders Partnership is the first site in the UK and Europe to open the study.

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either trontinemab or a placebo. Researchers will then follow them for around four to six years to determine whether treating the disease before symptoms appear can delay or prevent dementia.

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How Does Trontinemab Work?

Trontinemab, developed by pharmaceutical company Roche, targets amyloid plaques, abnormal deposits of the protein that build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The drug, with an antibody-based approach, intends to cross the blood-brain barrier more efficiently and remove amyloid from the brain.

Early studies have shown encouraging results. According to reports on the new trial, trontinemab cleared amyloid plaques in about 90% of people with early Alzheimer’s within 28 weeks.

However, these results came from people who already had early onset of the disease, not people being treated before symptoms, so they cannot prove that the drug will prevent Alzheimer’s.

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Can Alzheimer’s Be Treated Before Symptoms Appear?

Changes in the brain due to Alzheimer’s can begin in the brain years before memory problems develop. By the time symptoms become obvious, substantial biological changes may already have occurred.

Professor Ramin Nilforooshan, consultant psychiatrist and chief investigator for PrevenTRON, said the trial is asking a fundamentally different question from many previous Alzheimer’s studies. With this trial, researchers intend to intervene before symptoms begin.

“PrevenTRON addresses a different question, whether we can act earlier, before symptoms begin,” he said.

Trontinemab remains an experimental drug, and researchers do not yet know whether removing amyloid in people who have no symptoms will actually prevent or delay dementia.

The study will also help establish whether identifying people at increased risk using blood biomarkers and treating them years before symptoms is practical and safe. If successful, this could eventually change how Alzheimer’s disease is managed, as healthcare professionals can move from risk detection and prevention rather than waiting for symptoms.

Bladder cancer detection could get easier, faster and much less invasive as a new urine test can help identify it. According to new UK research, patients may not have to wait for an invasive bladder examination just to get their cancer diagnosis.

The test, called GALEAS Bladder, detected almost 92.2% of bladder cancers in a study involving 964 patients across seven NHS urology departments. The findings were published in European Urology Oncology recently .

How Does The Urine Test Work?

In the study, patients had been referred for urgent investigation because of haematuria, or blood in the urine, one of the key warning signs of bladder cancer. Their urine samples were tested alongside the standard diagnostic method, which included cystoscopy.

Among the 964 patients who had a final diagnosis, 77 were found to have bladder cancer. The urine test detected 71 of those 77 cancers, making the success rate almost 92%.

It detected all 17 muscle-invasive bladder cancers identified in the study. It also picked up 35 of 36 high-grade cancers, equivalent to 97.2%.

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Could It Reduce The Requirement For Cystoscopy?

Cystoscopy remains an important part of bladder cancer diagnosis. The procedure involves passing a camera through the urethra into the bladder, so doctors can directly examine the organ.

While effective, cystoscopy is invasive and requires hospital resources. The researchers believe a urine-based test could help doctors decide which patients need an urgent cystoscopy and which patients may be able to safely defer the procedure.

According to this study, a negative GALEAS result was linked with a 99.3% likelihood of not having bladder cancer. Researchers estimated that using the test to triage patients could reduce urgent cystoscopies by about 730 per 1,000 patients, without reducing overall clinical benefit.

Professor Richard Bryan, Director of the University of Birmingham’s Bladder Cancer Research Centre and a study co-author, said the findings show that molecular urine testing can help clinicians determine which patients need urgent cystoscopy.

The test performed particularly well in patients whose blood in the urine was not visible to the naked eye. In this group, which represented about 30% of participants, the test identified all bladder cancers diagnosed in the study.

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Is The Urine Test A Replacement For Cystoscopy?

The researchers describe GALEAS as a tool to support decision-making before cystoscopy, rather than a complete replacement for diagnostic procedures. A positive result can help prioritise patients for cystoscopy, while a negative result may allow immediate cystoscopy to be deferred in appropriate cases.

The study does not mean that a person with symptoms can simply take a urine test and rule out cancer on their own. A suspected bladder cancer diagnosis still requires appropriate clinical assessment.

In the study, just 8% of participants were diagnosed with bladder cancer. The findings offer a useful way to make bladder cancer investigations more targeted, particularly where large numbers of people are referred for blood in the urine, but only a small proportion ultimately get diagnosed cancer.