Mapping the off-target effects of every FDA-approved drug in existence
13 comments
·October 28, 2025nerdsniper
Spivak
Is testosterone a controlled substance? But why?
Etheryte
All steroids have a very high risk of misuse, it's incredibly easy to get your body addicted one way or another and it's one of those things that's very hard to fix after the fact.
dvaun
Steroid abuse indicates body dysmorphia. There isn’t an addictive property like other abused drugs, unless you’re considering it addictive via its effects on dopamine production.
Your body doesn’t become addicted, though. The potential for harm is real if you are not taking it under medical supervision or without proper knowledge of usage, like any other drugs.
Spivak
The addictive component makes sense, does that mean men who are injured and produce less go through withdrawal? Or like men as they age? That sounds miserable.
BizarroLand
Because it can be dangerous if misused.
It's a steroid, so body builders would use it constantly. It's a sex hormone, so people would use it to masculinize themselves and amp up their sex drive, and it's part of the pubertal cycle so children exposed to it pre-puberty can have masculinizing pubertal side effects before their actual puberty starts.
Spivak
I'm not saying to sell it over the counter but surely just bring a prescription would be sufficient. I see medspa clinics advertising it to men for its masculinizing effects so it can't be that hard to acquire.
et2o
People have been doing this for literally decades. Check out work by Tattonetti
wizzwizz4
EvE Bio dataset and explorer: https://data.evebio.org/
Novartis dataset paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40064-9
Interestingly, it does not seem to have any controlled substances - even Schedule V drugs like Lyrica (pregabalin). So they've mapped estradiol and estrone, but not testosterone or drostanolone. Also cabergoline and pramipexole, but not amphetamine or methylphenidate.