What kind of drug is thalidomide?

What kind of drug is thalidomide?

Thalidomide is in a class of medications called immunomodulatory agents. It treats multiple myeloma by strengthening the immune system to fight cancer cells. It treats ENL by blocking the action of certain natural substances that cause swelling.

What was Thalidomide prescribed for?

Thalidomide is a sedative drug discovered at the end of the 50s, which caused a worldwide tragedy. The drug has been prescribed to many pregnant women in order to relieve pregnancy nausea.

What is thalidomide considered to be?

Due to a successful marketing campaign, thalidomide was widely used by pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy. However, thalidomide is a teratogenic substance, and a proportion of children born during the 1960s were afflicted with a syndrome known as thalidomide embryopathy (TE).

Is thalidomide a cytotoxic drug?

Although thalidomide does not have the side-effect profile of a conventional cytotoxic drug, it still has a broad array of adverse effects.

Is thalidomide a chemotherapy drug?

Thalidomide is a type of targeted cancer drug (biological therapy). It is also known as Thalidomide Celgene. You might have it as a treatment for myeloma. You might have thalidomide on its own or with other cancer drugs.

Is thalidomide used today?

In the 1950s and 1960s, thalidomide was used to treat morning sickness during pregnancy. But it was found to cause disabilities in the babies born to those taking the drug. Now, decades later, thalidomide (Thalomid) is being used to treat a skin condition and cancer.

Is thalidomide a chemotherapy?

Is thalidomide a targeted therapy?

Thalidomide is a targeted therapy drug. It is used to treat myeloma. It may sometimes be used to treat other cancers.

Is thalidomide a pill?

Thalidomide was a widely used drug in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. It became apparent in the 1960s that thalidomide treatment resulted in severe birth defects in thousands of children.

Is thalidomide still prescribed?

Thalidomide, the cause of the biggest medical scandal of the last century, is today recommended for use across the NHS. It is the final rehabilitation for a drug that once struck terror into patients when it was prescribed to pregnant women as a treatment for morning sickness in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Is thalidomide targeted therapy?

What was thalidomide used to treat?

Thalidomide: the tragedy of birth defects and the effective treatment of disease. Thalidomide was a widely used drug in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. It became apparent in the 1960s that thalidomide treatment resulted in severe birth defects in thousands of children.

What are enantiomers of thalidomide?

This is where the concept of enantiomers comes in. The thalidomide molecule occurs naturally in two forms, (R)- thalidomide and (S)- thalidomide, which are enantiomers, or mirror image molecules, of each other. The (R)-form has remedial properties, while the (S)-form is a teratogen, an agent that can cause birth defects.

Can thalidomide cause birth defects in babies?

Thalidomide can cause severe, life-threatening birth defects or death of a baby if the mother or the father is taking this medicine at the time of conception or during pregnancy. Even one dose of thalidomide can cause major birth defects of the baby’s arms and legs, bones, ears, eyes, face, and heart.

What are the possible side effects of thalidomide?

Areas of thalidomide research. HIV-related mouth and throat ulcers, as well as HIV-related weight loss and body wasting Cancer, including blood and bone marrow cancers, such as leukemia and myelofibrosis, as well as cancers found elsewhere in the body.