Thalidomide
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 Thalidomide  (Safe and Effective, Drug)   | |
|---|---|
| A drug that caused a very high number of birth defects and deaths. |
Thalidomide, sold as Contergan and Thalomid (among others), was a medication used to treat a number of cancers and other illnesses. It is an immunomodulatory medication and works by a number of mechanisms.
Problems
Contergan was marketed to women during pregnancy to help with anxiety, trouble sleeping, "tension", and morning sickness.[1] It lead to a high number of birth defects; the total number of embryos affected by use during pregnancy is estimated at 10,000, of which about 40% died around the time of birth.[2][3] The medication was tested on children in Germany in a study up to 1960 (the drug was taken of the market in 1961.[4]
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