Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan, Thalomid among others, is a medication used to treat a number of cancers, graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of leprosy.
| FactSnippet No. 736,850 |
10 Facts About Thalidomide
2.
Thalidomide was first marketed in 1957 in West Germany, where it was available over the counter.
| FactSnippet No. 736,851 |
3.
Thalidomide is used as a first-line treatment in multiple myeloma in combination with dexamethasone or with melphalan and prednisone to treat acute episodes of erythema nodosum leprosum and for maintenance therapy.
| FactSnippet No. 736,852 |
4.
Thalidomide has several adverse cardiovascular effects, including risk of heart attacks, pulmonary hypertension, and changes in heart rhythm, such as syncope, bradycardia, and atrioventricular block.
| FactSnippet No. 736,853 |
5.
Thalidomide binds to and acts as an antagonist of the androgen receptor and hence is a nonsteroidal antiandrogen of some capacity.
| FactSnippet No. 736,854 |
6.
Thalidomide is racemic; while S-thalidomide is the bioactive form of the molecule, the individual enantiomers can racemize to each other due to the acidic hydrogen at the chiral centre, which is the carbon of the glutarimide ring bonded to the phthalimide substituent.
| FactSnippet No. 736,855 |
7.
Thalidomide demanded approval six times, and was refused each time.
| FactSnippet No. 736,856 |
8.
Thalidomide has been used by Brazilian physicians as the drug of choice for the treatment of severe ENL since 1965, and by 1996, at least 33 cases of thalidomide embryopathy were recorded in people born in Brazil after 1965.
| FactSnippet No. 736,857 |
9.
Thalidomide did not damage the fetus if taken after 42 days gestation.
| FactSnippet No. 736,858 |
10.
Thalidomide was studied in a Phase II trial for Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer most commonly seen in the immunocompromised, that is caused by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus .
| FactSnippet No. 736,859 |