BERLIN: The firm that inventedthalidomide, a drug that caused birth defects in thousands ofbabies, carried out a deliberate disinformation campaign whenexperts first spotted possible severe side effects, a reportcommissioned by the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW)said on Friday.
Thalidomide, developed by the German firm Gruenenthal, wasmarketed internationally to pregnant women in the late 1950s andearly 1960s as a treatment for morning sickness.
It was soldunder the name Contergan in Germany, and elsewhere as Distaval.
The drug harmed around 5,000 people in Germany alone, ofwhom around 2,400 are still alive.
Many victims were born withmissing arms or legs, malformed limbs or severe nerve damage.
"We deeply regret the thalidomide tragedy and it will alwaysbe part of our corporate history," said Frank Schoenrock, aspokesman for Gruenenthal, adding that the firm was in aconstructive and continuous dialogue with the victims.
He said the company would evaluate the study, commissionedby the NRW health ministry, and could not make more detailedcomments on its contents at the moment.
The report, produced by the University of Muenster, saidthat once experts started drawing links between thalidomide andnerve damage, the manufacturer gave out intentionally falseinformation and hushed up knowledge it had about the drug´s sideeffects.
The study said the firm had also used delaying tactics andthreats of potential claims for damages against the state tokeep the drug, which achieved high sales, on the market for aslong as possible.
Reuters was unable to independently confirmits findings.
"The manufacturer could have spared a lot of people a lot ofsuffering if it had removed Contergan from the market afternumerous indications that there were harmful side effects," NRWHealth Minister Barbara Steffens said.
The report said that even after the drug was pulled from themarket, authorities were overwhelmed by the situation.
It saidthey had trouble clarifying the effects of thalidomide,determining the number of people affected and banning Contergan.
A spokeswoman for the NRW health ministry said the legalframework for banning the drug did not exist at the time.
Niklas Lenhard-Schramm, author of the study, said that atthe time, drug manufacturers were responsible for ensuring thesafety of medications, unlike the state licensing procedure inplace now.