Should Thalidomide be used commercially, in the light of the effects it has on foetus' during pregnancy?

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The Return of Thalidomide

Should Thalidomide be used commercially, in the light of the effects it has on foetus' during pregnancy?

Thalidomide was widely prescribed during the fifties and sixties as a sedative and a cure for morning sickness with pregnant women. However, many women who had taken the drug early in their pregnancy, gave birth to children with malformed limbs and other severe birth defects named phocomelia. Shortly after this discovery, thalidomide was taken off the market on account of its tetragenic tendencies. The prescription of thalidomide to pregnant women has since been considered one of the biggest mistakes in medical history. However, thalidomide has recently been approved  by the U.S Food and Drug Administration in 1998 to be licensed and prescribed throughout America. How can this be allowed to happen?

Recent studies have suggested that thalidomide can be used to treat a whole host of diseases. It can help prevent myelodysplastic syndromes which are conditions in which the production of blood cells is severely disrupted. Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes may go on to develop acute myeloid leukaemia and other cancers such as multiple myeloma, prostate cancer and liver cancer. The thalidomide attacks the tumour cells causing them to commit suicide, leaving healthy cells intact. The thalidomide does this as it acts as an inhibitor of angiogenisis. This means that it stops the tumours signalling the formation of new blood cells to feed itself.

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Apart from treatment in cancers, thalidomide has been proven effective in treating diseases such as AIDS, Behchet disease, lupus, Sjogren syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, macular degeneration. Thalidomide has also been proven to assist in the treatment of a side affect of leprosy called erythema nodosum leprosum. It can reduce the horrific swelling in a manner of hours. This swelling would otherwise, be due to a reaction from the body to foreign cells, which releases a protein which increases blood flow. Thalidomide is able to block this protein, reducing the inflammatory effects. Now that the ban on thalidomide ...

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