Thalidomide is a sedative, hypnotic, and anti-inflammatory medication. Thalidomide was developed by German pharmaceutical company GrĂ¼nenthal. It was sold from 1957 to 1961 in almost 50 countries under at least 40 names, including Distaval, Talimol, Nibrol, Sedimide, Quietoplex, Contergan, Neurosedyn, and Softenon. Thalidomide was chiefly sold and prescribed during the late 1950s and early 1960s to pregnant women, as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and as an aid to help them sleep. Before its release inadequate tests were performed to assess the drug's safety, with catastrophic results for the children of women who had taken thalidomide during their pregnancies.
From 1956 to 1962, approximately 10,000 children were born with severe malformities, including phocomelia, because their mothers had taken thalidomide during pregnancy. In 1962, in reaction to the tragedy, the United States Congress enacted laws requiring tests for safety during pregnancy before a drug can receive approval for sale in the U.S. Other countries enacted similar legislation, and thalidomide was not prescribed or sold for decades.
Researchers, however, continued to work with the drug. Soon after its banishment, a doctor discovered anti-inflammatory effects of thalidomide and began to look for uses of the medication despite its teratogenic effects. They found that patients with erythema nodosum leprosum, a painful skin condition associated with leprosy, experienced relief of their pain by taking thalidomide. There are studies underway to determine the drug's effects on arachnoiditis, Crohn's disease, and several types of cancers. However, physicians and patients alike must go through a special process to prescribe and receive thalidomide to ensure no more children are born with birth defects traceable to the medication.