Dark Remedy: The Impact Of Thalidomide And Its Revival As A Vital Medicine - Softcover

Stephens, Trent; Brynner, Rock

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0738205907 ISBN 13: 9780738205908

Publisher: Basic Books, 2001

Synopsis

In this riveting medical detective story, Trent Stephens and Rock Brynner recount the history of thalidomide, from the epidemic of birth defects in the 1960's to the present day, as scientists work to create and test an alternative drug that captures thalidomide's curative properties without its cruel side effects. A parable about compassion-and the absence of it-Dark Remedy is a gripping account of thalidomide's extraordinary impact on the lives of individuals and nations over half a century.

About this title

Review

Twentieth-century science is too complex for any one reader's apprehension, so we look for stories that help us grasp its enormity. The jubilant discovery, demonization, and subsequent rehabilitation of thalidomide offers a wide-ranging outline of public attitudes toward science following World War II, and the authors of Dark Remedy: The Impact of Thalidomide and Its Revival As a Vital Medicine tell the story well. Historian Rock Brynner and embryologist Trent Stephens--who may have finally determined the drug's mechanism of action in 1998--treat us to both a devastating indictment of the under-regulated pharmaceutical industry of the 1950s and a penetrating study of thalidomide's reintroduction into mainstream medicine through the black market. The powerful anti-inflammatory properties of the drug make it a popular choice for treating arthritis, leprosy, some cancers, AIDS, MS, and many other debilitating illnesses, but it has only recently won grudging approval. Though the its tone can be acidic (in one instance referring to the "Utopian prosthetics custom-designed for the deformities caused by Utopian medicine"), the book is, for the most part, fair to the corporations that caused and then ignored the epidemic of birth defects, the victims who understandably tried to prevent the drug's revival, and the regulators who were too often bound by short-sighted legislation to do their jobs. The heroes and villains are larger than life, the stories and the science are equally compelling, and Dark Remedy ultimately combines the best elements of journalism and myth. --Rob Lightner

About the Author

Rock Brynner, historian and novelist, earned his M.A. in Philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, and his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. This is his fifth book.

Trent Stephens, Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at Idaho State University, is the author of numerous books. He has been researching thalidomide for almost twenty-five years.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0738205907
• ISBN 13: 9780738205908
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240