Dr Frances Kelsey, thalidomide hero, dies at 101 -- she blocked approval of Thalidomide in the US

[GreatGazoo]

A newbie at the FDA in 1960, they gave her what was widely touted to be a very safe drug. She was more diligent than others and should be honored beside Jonas Salk and other medical heroes of the 20th Century for her courage and integrity.

[shenmue]

1. ...

[shraby]

2. She's a true hero.

[zebonaut]

3. Thanks for standing up to the pharmaceutical pill pushers

[3catwoman3]

4. I remember vividly when the...

...thalidomide stories were first widely publicized.

On the season finale of Call The Midwife on PBS, the doctor is treating a woman for hyperemesis gravidarum, and tells her about the new "miracle drug," thalidomide. I am waiting to see how it is dealt with when the show resumes.

[Hekate]

14. I also remember it vividly. Was just a kid at the time, but my parents got TIME and LIFE...

My gods those photos. When I watched the last episode of Call the Midwife, I just got chills.

[3catwoman3]

16. We are probably of somewhat the...

...same vintage. I was born in 1951, so I'm guessing I am a bit older than you if you were "just a kid." WE also got TIME and LIFE weekly, as it seemed most of the country did.

Until that Midwife, episode, I had not thought about thalidomide in years. I also remember stories of many American women going to Europe for abortions because they had taken thalidomide and were terrified of the outcome.

[Hekate]

18. I was born in '47, but I was an avid reader. LIFE did great photo journalism, didn't they?

I also vividly remember the last great polio epidemic in 1952, again largely thanks to LIFE. Every school had its share of children in clumsy braces, and you could just about put your finger on when it was they got sick.

Interestingly, thalidomide resurfaced as a legitimate drug in the battle against leprosy. Can't remember when I read that, but I was shocked. I somehow thought the entire formula would have been interdicted or something. In any case, there it was. Leprosy, aka Hansen's Disease, made its mark as part of Hawaii's history, and Fr. Damien de Veuster is one of the state's heroes, so it catches my eye if it pops up in the news.

And some other diseases as well, again to my surprise --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

[3catwoman3]

20. I do not remember the polio epidemics, but most...

...definitely remember lining up in school for the little sugar cubes that the oral vaccine was put on. To this day, my 93 yr old mom will still talk about how fearful she was about taking us anywhere in public during the summer, and how thankful she was when the vaccine became available.

I am a pediatric nurse practitioner, and have been since 1976. It is always a challenge to work with vaccine refusing parents. I understand the concern over putting something in your child's body that could have an adverse effect. I wonder how often these same folks stop to consider that any time I write an antibiotic Rx for strep or any ear infection, there is a chance the child could have an anaphylatic reaction and die, even if the med has been taken before without incident.

[Hekate]

21. Medical history is fascinating. I spent some time last night reading a 1779 account...

....of a doctor's smallpox inoculation practice. He wrote it up for the Royal College of Physicians -- anyway I got it from Project Gutenberg online, where I like to check their recent acquisitions. He was working his way through the reasoning of the scientific method, but still reliant on then standard practices like purging, cupping, and bleeding.

Some people came through with just scars on their arms, and were fine after several weeks. Others got much sicker, including one fellow who had a hundred pocks going, but he was also counted a success. Dr Dimsdale carefully noted the patients who apparently were already incubating smallpox when they sought an inoculation from him, because they quickly came down with the full blown "distemper" instead of following the expected course. He also noted those who came down with something else while sick from the inoculations: one fellow got pneumonia, and a woman had what sounded like a strep throat or even uvulitis. They both survived. In fact all his patients did.

Dr Dimsdale counseled against inoculating children under the age of two years, because infant mortality was already very high and he just didn't think it was worth the risk.

Smallpox had a high mortality rate, and an even higher rate of disfigurement, so this physician did a brisk business in his efforts to prevent it; his services were much in demand.

Which brings me by a circuitous route to today's anti-vaxxers. They are astoundingly ignorant. They have not seen what we have seen, nor have they been taught. I think obstetricians and pediatricians should have a hand in educating their patients, but that's a rant for another time.

[3catwoman3]

22. We try, but when...

...someone has a closed mind and confirmation bias, it's a tough haul.

[mother earth]

5. K & R nt

[raccoon]

6. K&R. I only hope there are others like her. nt

[question everything]

7. The irony is that she stopped the Thalidomide based on the existing law at the time.

Did not help. Congress then enacted the new law that required the agency not only to monitor safety, but also efficacy of drugs. Ushering the age of time and money that delay the introduction of new, life saving drugs and the excuse by pharmaceutical companies that they have to recoup their time and cost.

RIP Dr. Kelsey.

[JDPriestly]

9. So individual drugs cost a little more.

But think of the money we save when we don't buy useless placebos for huge prices thanks to the fact that new drugs have to be proven useful.

Probably is a wash. And we aren't putting a lot of useless drugs into our bodies. Hopefully.

[JDPriestly]

8. I knew a lovely young girl who was a Thalidomide baby. It was very sad.

Frances Oldham Kelsey's story is the best proof that we need government oversight and regulation of our industry including but not limited to the pharmaceutical, chemical and oil and gas sectors.

She is a hero.

Next time some right-winger talks to you about big government and abortion, mention Frances Oldham Kelsey. She did so much for babies.

Government is not the problem. It is what we use to fix problems.

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. Link to thread announcing Dr Kelsey's death on August 7th...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1170312

From the people with effects of thalidomide that I met, we in this country owe Dr Kelsey so much for standing up to the drug companies pushing this "miracle pregnancy drug" (helped with morning sickness). They have had good but dificult lives, and there would have so so many more in the U.S.

[GreatGazoo]

11. Thanks! I missed it when it happened.

Came back to Kelsey and her passing while researching Rachel Carson for a piece I am writing.

In researching the two I am struck again by how foolish it is for societies and religions to discriminate against any group of people. For example if these women were born in Saudi Arabia instead of Canada and the US then the world would likely have been denied their very valuable contributions. And I'm not saying that the 1950s were the most enlightened period for women in America, in fact that plays into the stories of both of these women -- outliers in a "man's world" who were perhaps used to resistance to their input. Diversity truly is strength.

[cantbeserious]

12. My Sister Was A Thalidomide Baby - Mentally And Physically Handicapped Her Whole Life

Last edited Mon Aug 31, 2015, 08:57 PM - Edit history (1)

eom

[Hekate]

19. It must have been so hard for you and your family...I'm sorry.

[Unknown Beatle]

13. Yaz and Yasmin comes to mind when greedy pharmaceutical companies want to

make billions of dollars.

Yaz settled a class action lawsuit for $1.69 billion but they had one billion dollar annual sales of the drug for several years. The settlement hurt, but they maker of the drug didn't loose any money. I'm not sure, but I think they're still selling Yaz and Yasmin.

We need more Frances Oldham Kelsey's in this world.

[Hekate]

15. Eternally grateful to Dr. Kelsey. RIP.

[joanbarnes]

17. Same railroading flu, hpv vaccines and others.

STOP bullying and ridiculing anti-vax nerds and ask for better science.