Thalidomide maker ignored birth defects for two years

The German makers of thalidomide were warned of birth defects years before it was withdrawn and Australian distributors used pregnant women as the world’s first test subjects, court papers alleged yesterday.

Affidavits sworn in the lawsuit of an Australian woman born without limbs after her mother took thalidomide claimed that the drug’s maker Grunenthal ignored and covered up claims that it caused birth defects dating back to 1959.

Thalidomide was not withdrawn from sale until late 1961, but excerpts of internal company correspondence filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria alleged that doctors first warned of serious deformities more than two years earlier.

An estimated 10,000 children worldwide were born with defects after their mothers took thalidomide, which was marketed as a morning sickness drug and sold in nearly 50 countries.

The Australian case, which is yet to go to trial, is being led by wheelchair-bound Lynette Rowe, 50, who was born without arms and legs after her mother took thalidomide during pregnancy.