Thalidomide maker apologizes 50 years after drug pulled

[roadmaster]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/01/thalidomide-apology.html


The German manufacturer of the anti-morning sickness pill thalidomide — blamed for causing birth defects in thousands of babies — has issued its first ever apology, 50 years after pulling the drug off the market. But victims say an apology is not enough.



Wow glad it was never approved in the US.

[Peter1469]

The US has had plenty of bad drugs make it onto the market.

[roadmaster]

The US has had plenty of bad drugs make it onto the market.

I know but glad this one didn't.

[Carygrant]

These inept and corrupt bastards might have got away with it had it not been for the remarkable campaign run by the Sunday Times .
This scandal arose in the fifties and this miserable bunch of scum bags waited until 2012 before issuing the first ever public apology .
Now listen . Their CEO said that an earlier apology never appeared because they have all been in shock .
I saw the guy say it . For me no comment is fitting other than with a machine gun .
I trust you people have seen pictures of Thalidomide victims . Doctor Mengele could not have made a better job of things , if he had been around . That bad .

[Peter1469]

For once I agree with Cary. I need to get a check-up....

[Savitri Devi]

I have to say, as sorry I as I am for the innocent victims (being the people born with defects) who in their right mind thinks taking synthetic, physiologically altering drugs during pregnancy would not have any consequence? I mean individual consumers have to assume some responsibility as well.

It's like all the smokers who think inhaling smoke would not be unhealthy.

I mean seriously! This is why they hand out Darwin awards...

[Adelaide]

I have to say, as sorry I as I am for the innocent victims (being the people born with defects) who in their right mind thinks taking synthetic, physiologically altering drugs during pregnancy would not have any consequence? I mean individual consumers have to assume some responsibility as well.

It's like all the smokers who think inhaling smoke would not be unhealthy.

I mean seriously! This is why they hand out Darwin awards...

I don't think you can blame the victims. Yes, taking any prescription when pregnant is risky regardless of whether it's been tested and deemed safe. Morning sickness can be absolutely debilitating and women can be willing to take or do almost anything to be able to function at a relatively normal level.

[Carygrant]

I have to say, as sorry I as I am for the innocent victims (being the people born with defects) who in their right mind thinks taking synthetic, physiologically altering drugs during pregnancy would not have any consequence? I mean individual consumers have to assume some responsibility as well.
It's like all the smokers who think inhaling smoke would not be unhealthy. I mean seriously! This is why they hand out Darwin awards...



I think you have forgotten when this happened .
It started around 70 years ago . You are judging people's actions then by standards and knowledge that we have today .
Hindsight etc -------------

[Savitri Devi]

I think you have forgotten when this happened .
It started around 70 years ago . You are judging people's actions then by standards and knowledge that we have today .
Hindsight etc -------------

People have known before recorded history that certain herbs and foods caused miscarriages. I think people have a much greater understanding of their bodies than you give/gave them credit for. At least before the Abrahamic religious caused dark ages.

[Savitri Devi]

I don't think you can blame the victims. Yes, taking any prescription when pregnant is risky regardless of whether it's been tested and deemed safe. Morning sickness can be absolutely debilitating and women can be willing to take or do almost anything to be able to function at a relatively normal level.

Then maybe they shouldn't be having children if their bodies cannot handle it?

[head of joaquin]

I know but glad this one didn't.


We had the FDA. It didn't approve it. Europe and Japan had no equivalent of the FDA at the time. They got thalidomide babies.

And conservatives hate regulation.

[waltky]

Glimmer of hope...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Spain's forgotten Thalidomide victims see glimmer of hope
Fri, 23 Dec 2016 - Thalidomide was withdrawn from sale in most countries in 1961 but was still used in the 1980s in Spain.


For decades, Spain's Thalidomide survivors have been the forgotten victims of a drug that caused deformities in some 20,000 babies worldwide after their mothers took it during pregnancy. Once the drug's disastrous side-effects were revealed, German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal withdrew it from the market in most countries in late 1961. Survivors in countries such as the UK were recognised and paid compensation. But in Spain hundreds of people who believe their disabilities were caused by the drug remain unrecognised and do not get the special assistance they need to live normal lives. Many were born long after the truth about Thalidomide had been established.

Analia Munoz was born more than 20 years afterwards, in 1983, with short arms and legs, no ankles or hip joints and a cleft palate. Ms Munoz lives at home near Granada with her parents, both in their mid-sixties. Ana Maria, her mother, remembers going to hospital while pregnant and being given medication. But she cannot prove she took Thalidomide. "My husband and I both have to carry Analia up and down the stairs and help her in the bathroom. We have no real life outside the home." Nor does Analia. "I would like to work. I have studied to be a secretary and I once had an interview, but the office wasn't practical for my needs. I am frightened about how I am going to get along when my parents aren't around and I am alone."

Why was Spain so slow to help?

Six decades after Thalidomide was launched in 1956, Spain's political parties have now united in support of proposed new legislation intended to provide the basis of proper assistance and compensation for Spanish survivors. By 2010, the government had recognised just 24 victims, all born in the early 1960s, offering them one-off compensation payments of up to €100,000 (£84,000; $104,000). Rafael Basterrechea, born in 1965, was one of the 24. As vice-president of Avite, the association that represents Spain's Thalidomide survivors, he is scathing about the inaction of successive governments and Gruenenthal's refusal to accept responsibility. "They are waiting for us to die. Gruenenthal makes millions selling its drugs in this country; if the Spanish government put just a little pressure on them, we would get a deal tomorrow," he says.

Sceptical that the government is prepared to help, he calls it a national disgrace that it has taken so long to help an estimated 400 people in a country of 46 million. "Thalidomide was on the state register of official drugs until 1975. It was not made illegal to prescribe until 1985, when a law was passed meaning the doctor had to sign that he accepted responsibility for the effects. Only then, after 1985, do the cases disappear," says Mr Basterrechea.

History of a disaster drug (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38386021)

[Don]

We have the FDA but every day you see commercials letting people know that drugs and medical devices approved by the FDA are bad and some cause permanent damage and even death.