Thalidomide Babies

The history of Thalidomide started with Dr. Muckter in Holland, who was employed by a
small company, Chemie Grunenthal, to develop new drugs. Dr. Muckter noticed that a certain
chemical compound induced sleep in lab animals. Barbiturates at that time gave the same effect
but not without any side effects. This compound, which would later be called Thalidomide, seemed
to have no side effects. Dr. Muchkter could not even kill a single lab rat no matter how high the
dosage he gave.
The West German Government, who was still recovering from war, did not have any
means to test the new drug and took the pharmaceutical company’s word that the drug would do
no harm to anybody. Soon, the new drug was aggressively marketed. It sold under 37 other
names.
Thalidomide was now being recommended for all kinds of sicknesses, from the common
flu to anxiety, insomnia and even asthma. It was available everywhere even without prescription.
It soon popularized in countries in Europe. Britain and South America as well. Nicknamed “The
Babysitter” the drug was recommended even safe to use to put babies to sleep. In 1958, Chemie
Grunenthal declared the drug the best cure for curing morning sickness in pregnant women.
In time, people noted unusually high numbers of rare birth defects all over countries where
the drug was sold. Many babies were born malformed, some without body parts such as ears,
fingers or toes and others had their feet and hands directly attached to their body, a condition
called phocomelia. The defect only appeared in 1 out of 4 million babies, now it was an everyday
occurrence in maternity wards all over Europe. Soon people began identifying the cause due to
Thalidomide and thus naming the malformed babies as “Thalidomide Babies”.
Randy Warren, was one such Thalidomide Baby. He was born with small arms, stomach
malformations, 4 fingers on each hand and his feet were attached to his hips. He needed surgery
to align his spine and was admitted in Montreal’s Shriners Hospital, which became a world leader
in surgery techniques to improve lives of Thalidomide kids. Randy spent 15 years of his life in
Shriners where he underwent 32 surgeries and was fitted with artificial limbs. Much of his youth
was spent showing his deformed naked body to teams of male doctors around the world, much
to his embarrassment. As an Adult, Randy Warren became an ardent campaigner, raising
awareness of drug reactions and fighting for stricter drug approval procedures.
Lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies went on for decades. The first Canadian case
involved Denis Harvey, who was born with brain nerves so damaged he couldn’t laugh or cry. The
Harvey family and many others sued the American Licensee Richardson-Merell and settled out
of court. All the families that settles lawsuits were sworn to secrecy. In 1968, West German
prosecutors charged Dr. Muckter and 8 other Grunenthal executives with several crimes.
In 1960, the application to mass-market Thalidomide in America landed on the table of
Frances Oldham Kelsey, a reviewer at the Food and Drug Administration. As a medical reviewer,
Kelsey had the power to prevent a drug from going to market if she found the application to be
lacking sufficient evidence for safety. After a thorough review, Kelsey rejected the application for
thalidomide on grounds that it lacked sufficient evidence of safety through rigorous clinical trials.
Her decision against the mass-marketing of Thalidomide saved thousands of babies from being
born with any deformities. Because of Kelsey and the FDA the magnitude of Thalidomide babies
in America never reached the number or magnitude that Europe, Britain or Canada experienced.