Thalilomide was the most celebrated limb reducing insult (teratogen) in humans which also produced a range of other deformities depending on developmental time and concentration of the drug exposure.
Thalidomide now has many therapeutic uses in patients who are not pregnant. In skin conditions caused by erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), Kaposi’s sarcoma, primary brain malignancies, chronic graft versus host disease, Behcet’s disease, aphthous ulcers, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), adult Langerhans cell histiocytosis, rheumatoid arthritis, myeloma….
Ludwig H, Hajek R, Tothova E, Drach J, Adam Z, Labar B, Egyed M, Spicka I, Gisslinger H, Greil R, Kuhn I, Zojer N, Hinke A.Thalidomide-dexamethasone compared to melphalan-prednisolone in elderly patients with multiple myeloma. Blood. 2008 Oct 27.
(More? UNSW Embryology – Abnormal Development – Thalidomide | Abnormal Development – Drugs | ASHP – Thalidomide)
Tags: abnormal development, embryology, drugs
