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Thalidomide Research Paper

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A few short hours after the birth of Mandy Masters in 1961, the doctor whispered to her mother that she didn’t have to keep her. Mandy was one of over 10,000 babies born globally with a disability caused by the drug Thalidomide. Born without arms, she was given a life expectancy of no more than 19 years; now at age 54, Mandy is starting to feel the painful effects of her life-long compensation for her disability (Cawley, 2013). Thalidomide was originally produced by the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal, as an anticonvulsant. Early tests showed that the drug was inadequate for this purpose but had sedative properties. The drug was later used as a sleeping pill and prescribed to pregnant women to treat morning sickness. When the damage …show more content…
Australian obstetrician Dr. William McBride discovered that the drug also alleviated morning sickness, helping improve overall women’s health. When this was discovered McBride started recommending this off-label drug to pregnant women, initiating a worldwide trend. With its popularity growing in European countries and its multiple uses, sales of Thalidomide almost reached that of aspirin. Grunenthal saw Thalidomide as an Innocent-until-proven-guilty case and pushed for its rapid production and minimal research into the effects on humans of all stages of development because of its high demand. Less than a year after it was originally produced the first documented baby born with the effects of Thalidomide was a little girl, daughter of an employee of Grunenthal, born without ears. The defect was not attributed to the drug until years later, during the time the drug was waiting for approval by the FDA in the United States. Dr. Frances Kelsey, a newly employed doctor by the FDA was assigned Thalidomide as her first case. Because the rest of the world expected its quick approval, almost two million capsules were produced and ready for distribution. When Dr. Kelsey declined the production of Thalidomide in the United States everyone was shocked. Despite the pressure from pharmaceutical

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