It was supposed to be a safe pain reliever and sedative. Thalidomide caused damage to almost 15. fetuses

The drug, which several decades ago deformed thousands of fetuses and caused one of the biggest scandals in medical history, is now extending the life of people with myeloma. Thalidomide was marketed as a safe pain reliever in the 50s and was often given to pregnant women. It was only after a few years that it was discovered what damage it can cause.

1. In the 50s, thalidomide was sold over the counter as a pain reliever and sleep aid
2. With time, it turned out that when taken by a pregnant woman, it causes serious damage to the fetus. Over a dozen thousand children have been born around the world with deformed or no limbs
3. The company responsible for introducing the drug to the market only half a century after revealing its harmful properties, decided to apologize
4. 20 years ago the infamous thalidomide returned to favor. It is helpful in treating multiple myeloma
5. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Almost perfect pain reliever

An effective and safe pain reliever, antiemetic, sedative and sedative. Available without a prescription. Can be used by pregnant women. It all sounds like an advertising slogan for an almost perfect medicine, necessary in every home medicine cabinet.

And this is more or less the way in which Germany was encouraged to buy Contergan. In fact, an agent that harmed developing fetuses was promoted, although the world would find out many years later. There were over a dozen thousand victims of this medicine.

The “Nazi” invention deforms the fetuses

Thalidomide, as an analgesic and anesthetic agent, was developed by German chemists in 1954. Although there were also suspicions that it was done by scientists of the Third Reich during their work on chemical weapons.

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It was launched on the market by the Grünenthal company under the name of Contergan. In total, the preparation has been registered in 50 countries under various names: Talimol, Kevadon, Nibrol, Sedimide, Contergan, Neurosedyn and Distaval. It was administered – without a prescription – in the years 1957-1961. It has not been registered in Poland.

Over time, it turned out that the drug has a teratogenic effect, i.e. causing defects in the development of fetuses. Disorders were found in a total of about 15. fetuses. Of this number, 12 thousand were born. children, of which 4 thousand. did not survive the first year.

The deformities most often concerned the limbs, children were born without legs or arms, or with too short and deformed legs. The eyes, ears, genitals and internal organs were also damaged.

An alarm bell at two ends of the world

The fatal effects of thalidomide were discovered in two parallel sites in 1961.

Widukind Lenz, a pediatrician at the children’s hospital in Hamburg, drew attention to the link between the birth of children with deformities and the use of sleeping drugs by their mothers during pregnancy. He demanded that Grünenthal withdraw the drug, and announced his findings at a conference of the German Pediatric Society.

In Australia, on the other hand, Dr. William McBride was concerned about the over-birth of deformed babies in a Sydney hospital. When he checked records, he discovered that pregnant women had been prescribed thalidomide for morning sickness, known in Australia as Distaval. The conclusions were published in the “Lancet” journal.

The pharmacist saves American children

American children escaped the fate of European and Australian children thanks to the pharmacist Frances Oldham Kelsey. In 1960, she joined the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and one of the first drugs she had to give her opinion was thalidomide (known in the US as Kevadon). Kelsey, wanting to verify the information about the “harmlessness” of the preparation, looked for the results of tests carried out on animal fetuses, but such studies have never been performed.

Under the then-law, the FDA had 60 days to process the drug registration application. The official resisted pressure from the pharmaceutical company Richardson-Merrell, rejected her application and requested additional clinical trials. At the end of 1960, her suspicions about the drug’s harmfulness were confirmed, and a moment later disturbing reports from Europe began to flow in.

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Ultimately, Richardson-Merrell withdrew the application only in March 1962, but has since shipped more than 2,5 million units of thalidomide to more than 20 doctors in the United States. Doctors administered thalidomide to nearly 17. patients, this group also included several hundred pregnant women. Officially, XNUMX cases of births of a child with a deformity in the USA are known.

In August 1962, Kelsey was the second woman in history to be awarded the Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, a presidential medal for outstanding civil service. Her case of thalidomide has since become the standard procedure for the registration of new drugs in the US.

An apology 50 years late

The victims and their families had to wait a long time for any repentance from Grünenthal. It was only in 2012, more than half a century after thalidomide had been discovered, that the company issued an official apology.

– Please forgive us that in 50 years we have not found ourselves to behave like people towards people. Instead, we preferred to remain silent, said Harald Stock, the company’s chief executive. – I am very sorry. We ask you to consider our long silence as a sign of shock caused by your fate in us, he added.

Stock said these words on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the victims of thalidomide. The monument was erected in the city of Stolberg, where the Grünenthal seat is located. Organizations of victims of thalidomide from Germany, Great Britain, were present at the event. Britain, Japan and Australia.

1. Stockholm syndrome. Love for the executioner

They all agreed that this form of thanks is a mockery. First of all, there was no apology for introducing the drug to the market. And the erection of the monument, which cost the company 5. brands, considered it more an advertising gimmick than a sincere gesture.

– We expect acts, and if they do not occur, Grünenthal’s apologies will remain empty words and a simple advertising gimmick – said Ilonka Stebritz, spokeswoman for the German organization uniting Contergan victims.

In 1970, a fund was created in Germany with EUR 150 million for the needs of 3 people. German victims. During the unveiling of the monument, Stock admitted that this amount was too small. The representatives of the affected families have been convinced of this for a long time. The effects of this drug turned out to be much more serious than previously thought. With age, the diseases caused by thalidomide worsen, and there are problems with the spine, joints and the aperture.

Polish victims of thalidomide

There are several victims of thalidomide in Poland. One of them is Adam Żurawski, born in 1966. He was born with deformed hands, and his forearms sprouted straight out of his torso. Where did his deformities come from, if thalidomide was not used in Poland? As he himself managed to determine, when he was already an adult, his mother, in the first months of pregnancy, a doctor from a hospital in Warsaw’s Solec hospital prescribed medications for nausea.

When he was 11, he underwent three operations on his left hand. The first procedure involved cutting the bones and joining them in other ways to straighten the wrist. During the second, the surgeon removed one of the fingers and sewed it elsewhere to create something like a thumb. Failed to. The third operation was to improve the effects of the second. It also failed, Żurawski’s artificial thumb remained immobile and non-functional forever.

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The deformed hands did not deprive Żurawski of his physical fitness. When he was a teenager, he was great at jogging, long jumping, playing ping-pong, swimming and even shooting a bow. “Instead of using my arms, I stretched my bow with my feet,” he explained in an interview with “Duży Format” in 2015.

However, he does not remember childhood well. «My parents were handicapped, deaf, and right after birth, just two months after giving birth, they sent me to an orphanage like a dog. After five years, thanks to my grandmother, I returned home (…) For a long time in my mother’s environment, no one realized that she had two sons. I went to kindergarten, played in the yard, but my parents did not take me anywhere. I think they were ashamed of me. They wanted to keep from others a secret for as long as possible that I am strange that I have such hands »- he said in an interview for TvoiLokona.

1. My mother was shocked to see me

Żurawski started a fight for compensation from Grünenthal a few years ago. The company countered the first claims, claiming that its drug could not be sold in Poland.

Skin takes revenge for thalidomide

The history of thalidomide also found its way into pop culture. In 1990, not without problems, came the comic “Skin”, the protagonist of which is Martin Atchinson, a victim of this drug. Martin is unnaturally short and his arms are deformed, his hands growing straight out of his shoulders. This prevents him from performing the simplest activities, and he cannot fight normally, which does not prevent him from joining the group of British skinheads (it happens in the 70s). And he likes to fight because he hates the world, everyone around him, and hates being treated like a victim.

Martin swears sharply, abuses alcohol and willingly participates in fights in which he uses not his fists, but his head, and sometimes an ax as well.

«Milligan (comic book writer) uses a strong language, creates great, real, sharp dialogues. His characters are alive, evoke emotions. In a fairly short form, it places a large load of emotions and exposes what is most important – disgusting suffering and a love hidden under pain»- we read in the review of TvoiLokony a few years ago.

Thalidomide is back in favor

The infamous Thalidomide returned to the list of drugs in the late 90s. It turned out that it can prevent some symptoms of AIDS, has an immunosuppressive effect, and may also be helpful in the treatment of cancer.

It was already said in the 60s that thalidomide could help myeloma patients, but due to the scandal at that time, further research was abandoned. The topic returned in 1999. The very good effects of thalidomide in treatment were presented at the congress of the American Society of Hematology (AHA) szpiczaka manygiego.

However, the therapy has side effects. The most common are peripheral nerve damage, rash, constipation, fatigue, and weakness.

Therefore, new varieties of this drug have been developed. Lenalidomide has been used since 2007. The specificity inhibits the multiplication of neoplastic multiple myeloma cells and the formation of new vessels in their surroundings. It gives patients a chance to live longer.

In 2013, another thalidomide derivative was introduced – pomalidomide, which, together with dexamethasone (a synthetic steroid hormone with anti-inflammatory, antiallergic and immunosuppressive effects), improves the prognosis of patients with refractory and relapsed myeloma.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to emotions.

Often times, a particular sight, sound or smell brings to mind a similar situation that we have already experienced. What opportunities does this give us? How does our body react to such an emotion? You will hear about this and many other aspects related to emotions below.

This may interest you:

1. Multiple myeloma – symptoms, prognosis, treatment, and causes
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3. The news of the death of a fetus or its severe defect cuts joy from despair, hope from fear