--- On Mon, 12/7/09, Gabriel de Figueiredo <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Thalidomide? hGH (causing cjd)?
>
These are wrong examples. Thalidomide was not approved by U.S. FDA when its
teratogenic (birth defect causing) effects were discovered. The naturally
occurring human Growth Hormone (hGH) that led to a few cases of
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) was a contaminated batch containing the
causative agent for the latter disease, extracted from cadaveric human
pituitary glands. The contamination happened before 1977 in studies conducted
before U.S. FDA approval, and before the causative agent of CJD was discovered,
which is now known to belong to a class of simple proteins called prions.
Because of this U.S. FDA did not approve human pituitary-derived natural hGH.
Instead, in 1985 it approved artificial or synthetic hGH as a drug for human
use.
U.S. FDA has now also approved Thalidomide for the treatment of a form of blood
cancer and a type of skin condition.
Cheers,
Santosh
