Thycad

Thalidomide is a synthetic glutarimide derivative initially developed in the early 1950s by the West German pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal as a sedative and hypnotic agent lacking the toxicity associated with barbiturates.[1] Marketed under names such as Contergan and Distaval starting in 1957 across Europe, Australia, and other regions, it was promoted for treating insomnia and, crucially, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, with claims of safety for use by pregnant women based on limited animal testing that failed to reveal its teratogenic potential.[2] Between 1957 and 1962, widespread use by pregnant women resulted in over 10,000 cases of severe congenital malformations, predominantly phocomelia—a condition characterized by shortened or absent limbs—along with damage to eyes, ears, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems, occurring when the drug was ingested during a narrow 20- to 36-day window post-fertilization when embryonic limb buds form.[2][3] The causal link was established through epidemiological investigations, notably by Australian obstetrician William McBride and others, prompting swift market withdrawals by 1961-1962 and catalyzing rigorous global drug safety regulations, including mandatory efficacy and safety proofs.[2] Despite this catastrophe, thalidomide's immunomodulatory and anti-angiogenic properties—later elucidated via inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and cereblon-mediated protein degradation—led to its repurposing in the 1980s-