This talk presents the findings of a two-year FWF-funded Lise Meitner project on “biographies” of contemporary Tibetan precious pills and their social history. Precious pills are unique multi-compound pills that form a special part of Tibetan medicine, also known as Sowa Rigpa (“The science of healing”). They are considered precious because they include a variety of pre-processed precious and semi-precious stones (pearl, turquoise, coral, rubies, etc.) and metals. Based on an ethnographic analysis of the most common precious pills currently produced in India and on a study of their formulas in Tibetan medical texts dating back to the twelfth century, this presentation will summarize the project’s research activities and main findings. The presentation includes a show-and-tell section on precious pills that were collected during the project and are now exhibited at the ISTB. I will talk about their recent commodification and their use as tonics and medicines and how formulas and their histories are part of a medicine’s social life and biography.