home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Time - Man of the Year
/
Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
/
moy
/
042792
/
04279923.000
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-09-10
|
2KB
|
37 lines
THE WEEK, Page 23HEALTH & SCIENCEThe Case for Thalidomide
A drug that causes massive birth defects can save lives as well
Nearly 30 years after the drug Thalidomide was yanked from
the consumer market, the mere mention of it can still evoke
shudders of horror from those who came to know of its side
effects. Marketed as a tranquilizer, thalidomide turned out to
be one of the most potent causes of birth defects ever found.
Babies born to women who took it during early pregnancy were
born with terrible deformities, including missing or seriously
misshapen limbs.
But now the long-feared drug has also become a source of
hope. Doctors have known for years that thalidomide is among the
most effective treatments for leprosy. And last week a research
team from Johns Hopkins reported in the New England Journal of
Medicine that the drug can also improve the survival rate of
patients who get bone-marrow transplants, which are used to
treat potentially fatal disorders including aplastic anemia and
some blood cancers.
The most common complication of such transplants, though,
is graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD), a potentially fatal reaction
in which the foreign tissue tries to reject its new body
(rather than the other way around). Researchers have found that
thalidomide seems to keep that reaction in check. Compared with
other treatments for GVHD, the drug is relatively benign -- as
long as the patient is absolutely certain she's not pregnant.