U.S. Government Underestimates Number of Thalidomide Survivors, Advocacy Group Claims
A new report suggests that the U.S. government significantly underestimates the number of thalidomide survivors in the country. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formally acknowledges only 17 American-born babies affected by the drug, Jennifer Vanderbes, author of 'Wonder Drug,' estimates there could be around a hundred U.S. survivors. Thalidomide, a sedative, was not approved for general use in the U.S. due to the persistence of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, an FDA pharmacologist. However, the Cincinnati-based pharmaceutical company William S. Merrell distributed thousands of unlabeled doses to doctors for an unregulated clinical trial in the early 1960s, without requiring tracking or side effect reports. Many pregnant women were unknowingly given the drug, leading to children being born with severe limb deformities, known as phocomelia. Doctors often failed to document the drug's use or inform patients, and years later, many survivors were told thalidomide did not affect the U.S. Gwen Riechmann, ...
