On Mon, 11 Jan 2021 12:29:52 +0000, in ,
The Natural Philosopher  wrote:

>Life is risky.
>
>In the end cost benefit analysis is all we can use.
>
>Perhaps pregnant women should avoid it, but people are dying *already*.
>
>It was very unfortunate with thalidomide that the effects showed up in
>foetal poisoning only.  The medical profession simply hadn't seen that
>one coming.

Yes they did! The problem is that the medical professionals involved
in the testing didn't have to report all the side effects at the
time... and they didn't. Even before any tests in humans the
teratogenic effects of Thalidomide were seen in animal testing. But
only in some species and not others.

Would you want your wife or daughter of child bearing age, with a
likelyhood of becoming pregnant, to use a drug that caused serious
fetal deformity in say rats, but not hamsters? Does it make a
difference in your answer that the problem was with taking the drug
during the first 3-4 weeks of pregnancy when few know for sure that
they're pregnant and so won't know to stop taking it in time to
prevent defects?

Life is risky, but it doesn't need to be that much of a risk for yet
another drug that did the same thing as many other drugs available at
the time. Not to mention that use to prevent morning sickness was an
"off label" use.
--
Jim H

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05