โ Scribed by Geifman-Holtzman, Ossie; Drury, Hope E.; Holmes, Lewis B.
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
meeting in Keystone, Colorado. The symposium, which was chaired by J.M. Friedman (University of British Columbia), was introduced by showing a recent segment of the television program, 60 Minutes. This video vividly illustrates the dilemma posed both by release onto the market of thalidomide, a notorious human teratogen, and by restricting the drug's use for conditions in which other available therapies are inadequate.
Robert Brent (Jefferson Medical College) discussed therapeutic uses of thalidomide. Thalidomide has been claimed to be beneficial in the treatment of many different chronic infectious, immunopathic, and neoplastic diseases, including leprosy, and certain complications of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). These claims are all based on anecdotal case reports, small uncontrolled clinical series, or studies in laboratory animals that have not yet been confirmed in humans. None of the therapeutic claims rests on compelling evidence obtained from randomized controlled trials.
There is, however, clear evidence that thalidomide treatment can produce adverse effects. The most spectacular example is its teratogenicity, but short-term treatment with thalidomide can also cause peripheral neuropathy and, less frequently, renal failure. The risk of adverse effects associated with long-term use of thalidomide, as might be necessary for many of the chronic diseases for which such treatment has been proposed, is unknown.
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