Noun
thalidomide (countable and uncountable, plural thalidomides)
(pharmacology) A drug sold during the late 1950s and early 1960s as a sleeping aid, and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms, but withdrawn as causing severe birth defects, such as phocomelia; currently used to treat leprosy.
Although thalidomide was never approved for sale in the United States at the time, millions of tablets had been distributed to physicians during a clinical testing program. Source: Internet
But to reach the truth about thalidomide, or, rather, to be able to publish it, involved a clutch of tangled and thorny legal and ethical issues that took years of patience, cunning and tireless research to unravel. Source: Internet
Furthermore, it took a while to install a Surgeon General in Germany; the Federal Ministry of Health (Germany) was not founded until 1962, some months after thalidomide was banned from the market. Source: Internet
By the mid 1950s, 14 pharmaceutical companies were marketing thalidomide in 46 countries under 37 (some reports suggest 51) different trade names. Source: Internet
Carcinogenicity Animal studies did not demonstrate any carcinogenicity even when rats and mice were exposed to up to 11 times the therapeutic dose of thalidomide. Source: Internet
First, state controls and safeguarding were poor; indeed, it was not until 2008 that the government even admitted the country had ever imported thalidomide. Source: Internet