Medi-Gel

A miracle drug discovered in the Mid Rim, Medi-gel is harvested from a unique coral that grows in waters exposed to a certain kind of gamma radiation. Primarily harvested on oceanic planets, Medi-gel is a used not only to clean and disinfect wounds, but also to rapidly grow back damaged skin and other nerve endings. Long exposure to medi-gel can heal more serious ailments, like cancer or other disease.
Medi-Gel is difficult to cultivate, and the corals only grow deep in the ocean, in vast craters. Scientific findings point towards the asteroids that struck the planets like Zooma's World, Blue Dot or Aquatolis, and the minerals onboard led to the distinct corals producing the Gel to grow.
The gel is a byproduct of the spawning of the reproductive cycles of the coral. Four times a year, the coral spawns pollups, encased in the medi-gel, spreading them throughout the ecosystem. The gel helps keep the planet alive, and almost all organisms form some kind of symbiotic relationship with the substance. Because of this, the plant is highly delicate, and prone to dying quickly when its ecosystem is disturbed. 
These hyper-specific growing conditions mean that planets with Medi-Gel deposites are highly valuable, and that the gel is incredibly rare when the scale of the galaxy is considered. Attempts to artificially recreate Medi-Gel have at best created a mere shadow of the original.

History

Medi-Gel was discovered several times throughout human's history. It is considered a miracle compound by many. The fact that so many planets grew it naturally surely meant it was supposed to be discovered. It was quickly distributed throughout the galaxy. Only a little could be used to cure most ailments. Humanity's average lifespan grew by decades.
The difficult prospect was extracting enough medi-gel for everyone who wanted it. It required a very specific biome and atmosphere, and any kind of pollutant or stress to the coral would cause much less medi-gel to be produced. The disocvery of this drug caused many planets to fall under environmental protection acts and mandates.
Entire exploration ventures were taken to find more planets that had the right ecological conditions for the growth of the coral. Stastical models were drawn up of the asteroids that caused its growth in the first place, seeking another source of the substance. 
The silence meant the loss of many of these worlds, and now the substance is in short supply for those who are outside of the bounds of planets that have more access to it. The Union of Socialist Systems is the widest distributor of the substance, and does so for free.

Item type

Drug / Narcotic / Medicine