Thalidomide: the drug with a dark side but an enigmatic future

Description

The drug thalidomide has a notorious past. It was used between 1957-62 as a sedative and to treat morning sickness in early pregnancy but a serious side effect resulted in over 10,000 children born with severe birth defects.

How the drug caused these defects, which could affect most parts of the body and includes phocomelia – where the limbs are shortened and missing the long bones with the digits in some cases extruding from the shoulder or the hip – is becoming clearer.