Thalidomide was first synthesized in 1954 and was found to be an effective sedative and sleep-inducing agent in humans. It was also found to be an effective anti-emetic in pregnancy and its use subsequently increased. After 1956 reports of deformed babies started appearing and by the time it was withdrawn in 1961, 5,000-12,000 deformed babies were already born.
In 1964, Jacob Sheskin, experimentally prescribed thalidomide to an advanced ENL patient and the results were dramatic, the patient slept soundly with no subsequent hangover and his ENL-related pain and fever resolved entirely and the cutaneous sores healed within days.
To date more than 100,000 patients have been prescribed thalidomide without any drug-related birth defects and is the World Health Organization’s recommended drug for this form of leprosy.
Potential activity has been observed in clinical trials for various hemotological and solid tumor cancers including relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome, mantle cell lymphoma, glioma, renal cell carcinoma, metastatic melanoma, pancreatic cancer and androgen independent prostate cancer.
The past might have been devastating but the future for thalidomide is looking promising.
Thalidomide as a novel therapeutic agent: new uses for an old product.
Steve K. Teo, David I. Stirling and Jerome B. Zeldis
Drug Discovery Today – Volume 10, number 2 – January 2005