Thalidomide, new compensation from the Ministry of Health

Fedaisf editorial staff

October 18, 2017

A decree expands the audience of beneficiaries of compensation, including also those born outside the period 1959-1965. The sedative and anti-nausea drug caused the birth of thousands of children with malformations

Of Aboutpharma Online editorial staff – 17 ottobre 2017 – Aboutpharma

Compensation for those who have suffered damage from the thalidomide syndrome will also be extended to those born outside the 1959-1965 period. This is established by a decree of the Ministry of Health which will be published shortly in the Official Gazette. Thalidomide, a sedative drug used as an anti-nausea in pregnancy between the 1950s and 1960s, caused the birth of thousands of children with serious malformations.

Thalidomide syndrome: who can access compensation

The provision, explains a note from the dicastery, integrates the existing legislation providing for new categories of subjects who can present an application to request compensation. This is already recognized for those born between 1959 and 1965, but the ministry's initiative also extends recognition to those born in 1958 and 1966. But there's more: the new legislation also opens up compensation for those born outside outside the period 1958-1966 who still present malformations compatible with the thalidomide syndrome.

The Drama of Thalidomide

The drug thalidomide was first marketed in Germany in 1956 for the treatment of influenza, and subsequently, in 46 countries, for the treatment of insomnia. But it has been widely used in pregnant women in the treatment of morning sickness. A suspected increase in infants with limb malformations led to the drug's withdrawal in 1961.