Thalidomide; Past and Present – Blog Post #405 by Asrar Qureshi
Thalidomide; Past and Present – Blog Post #405 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues! This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #405. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Thalidomide is known for its dark history. It remained off market for quite a number of years but has made appearance again as a drug for certain types of cancer and for thalassemia. Development and Marketing Thalidomide was probably developed by Ciba, a Swiss pharmaceutical company which later became Novartis. It was subsequently marketed by a German company Chemi Grunenthal by the brand name Contergan. Thalidomide first entered the German market in 1957 as an over-the-counter remedy, based on the maker’s safety claims. They advertised their product as “completely safe” for everyone, inclu...