'Wonder Drug' traces the dark history of thalidomide and the birth defects it caused

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

In the 1960s, FDA inspector Frances Kelsey was assigned her first drug to review: thalidomide. Her thorough investigation led her to discover that the drug had caused pregnant women to bear babies with birth defects around the world – including in the U.S., where the drug had been distributed in clinical trials. Jennifer Vanderbes' new book, Wonder Drug, looks back on that chapter of American history. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how big and unregulated the pharmaceutical industry was at that time, and how patients suffered the consequences.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hiya, this is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Chloe Veltman.
0:06.3	Jennifer van derbess's non-fiction book Wonder Drug tells the fascinating and
0:11.2	sickening story of thalidomide. That's the name of a drug that doctors back in the middle
0:16.0	of the last century prescribed to treat a wide range of minor ailments like indigestion and menstrual cramps.
0:22.7	Little did they know the medicine led to a range of major birth defects in the children of those
0:27.7	patients. In an interview with weekend edition host Aisha Rusco, Van der Bez explains how thalidomide
0:34.3	helped to shape the pharmaceutical industry, pushing for profits over patients'
0:38.2	well-being. Let's go to their conversation now. In the U.S., national security news can feel
0:44.3	far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors. On our new
0:51.1	show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:00.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:05.6	In the 1950s and 60s, thousands of babies were born around the globe with shortened limbs.
1:12.5	Their arms and legs looked like seal flippers, and they were often missing fingers and toes.
1:18.7	They were called thalidomide babies, after the drug responsible for those birth defects.
1:24.9	Thalidomide was never approved for sale in the U.S.,
1:27.5	but it ended up in medicine cabinets here anyway.
1:30.8	Jennifer Vanderbess tells the story of how that happened in her new book, Wonder Drug,
1:36.4	the secret history of thalidomide in America and its hidden victims.
1:41.2	She joins us now.
1:42.5	Welcome to the program.
1:43.7	Hi, thanks for having me. You know,
1:45.2	we tend to think of like big pharma as something that's like happened more recently.
	...

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