—Steven Rose, "Brave new brain," The Guardian (London), May 8, 2003
There are plenty to choose from. Many drugs commonly prescribed for depression, heart disease and arthritis — even birth-control — are rumoured to have the beneficial side-effect of improving mental ability. The loophole in the FDA's rules lets Americans buy these drugs without having been prescribed them for their intended uses. Recently a new publishing company called B&J, from Santa Cruz in California, issued a buyer's guide to some 60 smart drugs and nutrients. It was compiled by Ward Dean, an expert on ageing who runs a medical practice in Pensacola, Florida, and John Morgenthaler, a journalist. They scoured medical literature to find all the drugs that have some claim, from animal or human studies, to enhance memory or intelligence.
—"Don't go gaga, be like Babar," The Economist, February 2, 1991
Note, too, that there is another sense of this phrase has been around since at least 1993 but that has gained linguistic ground in the past few years: a drug designed to target a specific type of cell, especially a cancer cell:
At the end of last year, there were 100 new cancer drugs in the final phase of human testing, according to NCI statistics, most of them smart drugs. Some directly disrupt tumor cells' replication machinery. Others block growth signals from reaching the cells. One class of drugs cut off tumors' blood supply, starving them to death.
—Raja Mishra, "Advances begin to tame cancer," The Boston Globe, July 6, 2003
cosmetic neurology
gene doping
nutraceutical
orphan drug
smartifact
smart dust
smartphone
undruggable
