Reports that the use of Thalidomide cured a patient in Israel of a malignant growth were dismissed today by a special inquiry committee of the Israel Health Ministry which said that the claim apparently had been based on an incorrect diagnosis.
The patient who had been reported to be the beneficiary of the use of the German-developed tranquilizing drug–a claim which attracted worldwide attention–suffered a tumor in the ankle which was amputated in 1960. The inquiry committee reported that recently the victim had felt sharp pains in the abdomen and was treated with locally produced Thalidomide. The committee established that the pains were not due to metastasis, the technical term for the spread of a malignant tumor as was apparently diagnosed in error.
Deputy Health Minister Yitzhak Rafael also reported on the absence of any conclusive results in such treatments of several patients at Hadassah and Tel Hashomer hospitals. The committee reported that “improvement in the general condition of these patients should be attributed to the drug’s general effect as a strong tranquilizer.”
The Ministry also reported that it had received 39 requests from 12 countries for doses of the locally made tranquilizer, which was indicted last year as responsible for the birth of thousands of deformed infants to women who took the tranquilizer during pregnancy. Some of the requests were relayed to Israel by amateur radio operators.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
