"Wonder Drug" by Jennifer Vanderbes was intended to be a biography of Dr. Claire Shipley. However, Vanderbes' compelling narrative focuses on the titular character of Dr. Frances Kelsey and her diligent efforts and investigation that exposed Thalidomide's dangerous side effects and far-ranging complications. What began as a biography quickly transformed into an examination of the 'miracle drug' Thalidomide and revealed a trail of dirty tricks that exposed the deeply disturbing machinations, misinformation, and disinformation by a large and influential pharmaceutical company. 

Initially touted as a sleep aid, a risk-free sedative, and safe even for children, Chemie Grünenthal released Thalidomide under the trade name Contergan. It was later mass-marketed as an antiemetic for morning sickness relief. The chemical company utilized post-war Nazi scientists to synthesize Thalidomide. 

In 1962, the drug was on the verge of completing the licensing process to authorize its use in the USA. The drug may have caused serious harm if it weren't for the commendable efforts of doctor Frances Kelsey from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She wisely denied permission to sell the drug until the distributor, William Merrill Company, thoroughly tested it.

Thalidomide was already used in 46 other countries and would eventually become available in 50. Doctor Kelsey's action was instrumental in limiting the devastating outcomes in different nations. Thus, through her attention to detail and proactive stance, she minimized the disturbing birth defects of the drug, effects that included miscarriages, stillbirths, limb malformations, deafness, blindness, and internal disabilities.  

Kelsey's robust and conscientious efforts revealed the horrific reality that there was evidence of government and corporate pharmaceutical organizations engaged in a cover-up to conceal the drug's ability to cause life-limiting severe birth abnormalities. The proof that she revealed was so compelling that she felt obliged to block the release of Thalidomide in the USA.

Vanerbes excoriates both the government and big pharma's involvement that led to tragic and avoidable consequences. What follows is a titanic fight that ends with Vanerbes challenging the specious machinations of the drug company, resulting in the empowerment of the victims of Thalidomide.

This was a well researched look at a drug given to pregnant women for nausea which resulted in horrific effects to their babies. I had heard of this before but wasn't familiar with what amounts to a government cover up of the issue and lack of any meaningful support for the survivors. The author did a wonderful job incorporating personal stories of survivors with factual, historical research.

Jennifer Vanderbes did a great job researching for this book. It is such a horrifying read for parents and non parent alike. She pulls no punches. She gives you the facts with no sugar coating. Be prepared, when you sit down to read this book, for a well written history lesson.

i'll be thinking about this one for a long time after. thanks netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Informative book about thalidomide. A bit dry at times. I had no idea how little testing was done and how poor the communication was with the people who received samples. My heart goes out to the families who were affected by the drug. It certainly makes me cautious about trying any new drug pushed by drug companies.

Wonder drug is a book about the unsung heroes who exposed an unregulated drug called Thalidomide which when taken by pregnant women in the early 1960"s, caused birth defects in their children. I first learned about the impact of this drug through a short documentary I saw in the 1980's. There were many heroes who spoke up but Frances Kelsey, was a FDA medical reviewer and she single-handedly kept Thalidomide off the American market. She was the only doctor to recognize the danger by reviewing in detail the scientific paperwork. Unbeknownst to many, the drug had been distributed in the U.S. by a huge marketing push of samples by "Detail Men." The greed of big Pharma rears its ugly head again here and even the Sackler Brothers make an appearance because they developed drugs and published favorable research papers in their very own medical journals. This is an example of misuse of vertical integration. William S. Merrell Company s the drug company here who were the distributors. Thalidomide had been created by a Nazi-founded German pharmaceutical firm that bullied doctors and buried documents. Like many women and whistleblowers in general, Frances Kelsey as shunned, ignored and sidelined but ultimately she was successful in stopping this drug from being approved by the FDA. This book is meticulously researched and has over 100 interviews with an extensive list of stakeholders as well as documents/memos from the drug companies. Throughout there are quotes from the now adult children and families and the survivors have found each other and near the end of the book come together as a community. Just an incredible book and again affirms the importance of investigative journalism. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Wonder Drug by Jennifer Vanderbes!

This was fascinating! It is incredibly well-researched and focused. The author's thesis is the legal side of how thalidomide could have impacted the US much worse and how Frances Kelsey and others at the FDA prevented that from happening.

Vanderbes's writing is informed through hundreds of hours of research of documents from the time and interviews with those involved, both from the government and the pharmaceutical companies. She manages to still keep the book succinct, especially compared to similar books with similar amounts of research.

I appreciated how she showed the chaos of government in a way that wasn't accusatory but acknowledged the power of lobbyists even then.

If you go into this book wanting stories of thalidomide victims' lives, you'll be disappointed. We only get a few quotes from survivors and their parents throughout, though Vanderbes provides many other resources and avenues to hear more from the victims. She is obviously aware that this is only a small part of what people might be interested in once they start learning about thalidomide.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

This book was an extremely fascinating read. It also pissed me off so bad I stomped around the house for a good long time ranting at the selfishness and pure GREED of Doctors who swore to "do no harm" and the proceeded to cause some of the worse harm ever and never even got a slap on the wrist for it [if anything, they were defended and the mothers that had deformed children were made to believe it was all their fault for taking a drug their OWN DOCTORS gave them]. Shame on them all.

The science of this was the fascinating part - so much went into developing this drug [that looked hopeful from day one] except the actual controlled trials and the actual collecting [and reporting] of the data that was coming in. They just randomly gave this drug to people without knowing what would really happen and that is 100% horrifying. I have long had issues with the FDA, and this book just amps that up a billion times. Of course, this drug was initially developed by the nazi's so I am not sure why we are surprised - WHY in the world were we using drugs developed by THE FREAKING NAZI'S in the first place?? SMH.

I feel for these families and their children. I am glad that some of them grew up to have decent lives, but I think of all that didn't and all the families that watched their poor babies die - It is so horrific that I can barely think about it again without dissolving into tears.

I think this is a must read simply because we as patients need to KNOW what doctors are trying to give us [My mom was given a drug for her arthritic hands and she started having some weird reactions. I had just happened to read an article on said drug that told me that it was a sulfa-based drug and my mom is ALLERGIC to sulfa-based
drugs {something her Dr. did know] and when she went in and showed him the reaction and told him, he was shocked. He had never been informed of this when the drug reps came in with it. If she had continued it for just TWO more days she would have gone into a coma and more than likely died. ALL because the drug companies chose to NOT divulge information], we need to look stuff up and we need to ADVOCATE for our own selves and say NO when something feels hinky. We have to to stay alive. Think about that for awhile, and then go and learn how to advocate for your own healthcare.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Vanderbes, and Random House Publishing Group/Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A compelling look at a drug gone wrong, namely thalidomide. This unproved drug had been given out in the early 1960s untested and with virtually no clinical trials, and to pregnant women, causing horrendous birth defects. Jennifer Vanderbes' look at Big Pharma's practices and their long term effects on unsuspecting people is an eye opening book and well worth the read.

--I received a copy of this book on exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are purely my own and not influenced in any way.--

This is admittedly one of those books that's really difficult to review because, frankly, I don't have much to say beyond "If you are interested in history in any way, get this book", so I'm going to try my best with this one to be a little more specific. I'm a huge history buff, so when I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I'm so glad I did, as this is SUCH a well researched book that goes far beyond the story of thalidomide that we all probably know and goes into the far darker story behind it. This is not a happy book -but history rarely is- though the book never veers off into being so bleak that you don't want to keep reading. On the contrary: there's a thread of hope for everyone impacted by this horrific drug, and that's one of my favorite things about this book: it actually gives those affected by the drug a voice, as opposed to treating them like a statistic. I cannot overstate how unbelievably well researched this is, and I haven't had a biography hit me like this since "Radium Girls" by Kate Moore.
I'm likely rambling at this point, so I'll just say this: if this topic interests you even a little bit, you will more than get your money's worth with this one. 5/5 stars

I am really glad I read this one. I have been fascinated by this drug and the birth defects for at least the last 20 years. It is amazing how these things can happen and it gives me empathy for people who don't trust medications. These people felt these "vitamins" were safe and as a result they and their children had to endure all of this.
Thank you for the ARC. Thank you for writing this.

Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes is a very highly recommended, thoroughly researched investigation of thalidomide in the US and beyond.

Thalidomide represents a shocking and alarming example of pharmaceutical negligence. Many people know of the severe birth defects suffered by babies in Germany and England when pregnant women were given the supposedly safe thalidomide early in their pregnancies. Few know that in 1959 the William S. Merrell Company was distributing samples of it to doctors for clinical trials. The company describing it as a sedative without risks and said that its approval by the Food and Drug Administration was sure to be soon.

However, in 1960 when FDA medical reviewer Frances Kelsey was reviewing the application for thalidomide she wanted more data and testing documentation to prove the many claims being made about the drug. Soon it became clear to her that the research on side effects was shoddy and incomplete. The safety claims were reckless. Then she learned about the severe birth abnormalities abroad. She and other fought to block the authorization of the drug in the USA.

What was not immediately known was that this "wonder drug" was still distributed to thousands of women in the US through the free samples given to doctors. The records of who these doctors gave the thalidomide to were incomplete or nonexistent. Most of the American victims of thalidomide were unknown or unable to prove they were given the drug. The pharmaceutical companies in the USA were never held accountable for the damage their "drug trials" did to people.

Wonder Drug is very well-written investigative journalism. The details are gripping and all of the historical facts are researched and documented. To help readers follow the story of this world-wide big pharma negligence, a list of people involved is in the front of the book so readers can keep all the personalities separate. This is a must-read, especially for those who are interested in history and details concerning a medical scandal of epic proportions.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, BookBrowse, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

In the 1950s, a German pharmaceutical company, Chemie Grünenthal, created a compound that it claimed could treat a variety of ailments. However, researchers failed to conduct rigorous clinical trials to prove that the product was safe and effective. In 1956, thalidomide was licensed for sale in Germany. In addition, the company distributed their drug to more than forty-six countries. Doctors in America, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere gave it to their patients, family members, and colleagues. Numerous expectant mothers who took thalidomide early in their pregnancies gave birth to babies with phocomelia—congenital deformities of the limbs. Other side effects were peripheral neuritis (inflammation of the nerves), paresthesia (a numb or burning sensation similar to pins and needles), sight loss, hearing loss, and damage to internal organs.

In her superbly written, meticulously researched, and heartbreaking work of non-fiction, "Wonder Drug," Jennifer Vanderbes explores how this catastrophe affected Americans. This book contains riveting anecdotes and enlightening background information about the businessmen, researchers, doctors, patients, journalists, and politicians who played key roles in this disastrous tale of greed, negligence, "slapdash science, and corporate callousness." The author explains the meaning of technical terms for the layperson and includes black and white photographs, end notes, a bibliography, and index.

This cautionary tale powerfully reinforces what most of us already know—that every new drug should be thoroughly tested before it receives the government's stamp of approval. Moreover, patients are entitled to informed consent—to know what medicine they are taking and its possible side effects. It is shocking that the drug manufacturers who unleashed thalidomide on an unsuspecting public prioritized sales over safety, and that they repeatedly lied about what they knew and when they knew it. On the other hand, it is heartening that such scrupulous and caring individuals as Dr. Frances Kelsey, a medical reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration, suspected that thalidomide might be dangerous and helped block FDA approval in America. Unfortunately, the William S. Merrell Company gave out samples (under the brand name Kevadon), to more than twelve hundred doctors in the United States. Many of these physicians dispensed thalidomide pills but later denied having done so. Few American victims received compensation from the manufacturer or even an acknowledgement that thalidomide had harmed them. "Wonder Drug" reads like a medical thriller, but it is all too real. We should take its chilling lessons to heart.

If, like me, you mostly knew about Thalidomide through Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, then this book will tell the heartbreaking story of what this drug did to unsuspecting mothers and children before the FDA stepped in to stop its distribution. This will be popular for fans of The Emperor of All Maladies, The Great Pretender, and any other medical history book.

This is a highly readable piece of investigative journalism on thalidomide in the US. The traditional story is of one heroic woman in the FDA who refused to approve the job despite extensive pressure from the drug company and other people at the FDA, sparing the US from this awful pandemic of children born with missing limbs and other birth defects.

Vanderbes show how it's nowhere near that simple. I have known about the thalidomide outbreak for a long time, since Billy Joel had me searing for references in We Didn't Start the Fire before google was a thing to do it on. Even with that and a healthy dose of skepticism and disillusionment about anything government related during this period, the story is a jaw dropper. No one kept track of anything ever, and women ultimately bore the blame. This book shows how much this catastrophe helped put in place many of the safeguards we take for granted today. Those safeguards actually contribute to our misunderstanding. I would never in a million years expect "clinical trials" to look like doctors swapping envelopes of unmarked pills.

This is great for anyone interested in this history. Id also encourage people interested in good investigative reporting / legal thrillers like All the President's Men, The Assassination of Fred Hampton, or Mississippi Burning.

When I was about 10 years old I saw the Life magazine article about the babies born after their mothers took thalidomide during pregnancy. That article has stuck with me over all these years. The author did a great job researching the history of this "wonder drug." It is fascinating and horrifying at the same time. It could have read like a term paper but Ms. Vanderbes was able to express the human factor, the fear of parents confronted with a child so deformed that they were told to let her/him die, the horror of the greed by the drug companies and the background of the men that developed this drug. Knowing that they would lie to put this drug on the market even though they had the knowledge of the teratogenic effects and the children it would harm. One person fought to keep this drug off the market in the US. I wish I could feel safer now but somehow I don't. I see the commercials on TV for different drugs and I worry. Yeah they might give a list of side effects at the end but I'm not sure if that is the tip of the iceberg or the whole iceberg.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a digital copy.

This book is amazing. So thorough, so well researched. Bringing the whole truth of a nearly forgotten catastrophe into the light.

I loved this book. The writing is gripping and it was impossible to put the book down. The stories are heartbreaking yet some at the same time some are uplifting. I loved the list of characters at the beginning of the book, unusual to me for a nonfiction book. But this story entangles so many characters including doctors who gave out thalidomide, the women who received it and their children, and employees of the FDA and the various drug companies, that the list came in very handy. I also loved how each chapter started, with a quote or a citation of a legal document etc. Overall a great book. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the digital review copy.

Harrowing and comprehensive history of Thalidomide. Very accessible-perhaps a little too much so. I enjoyed the style of the book, which depended a lot on various personal viewpoints, but I would have preferred footnotes to the notes section at the end of the book. Footnotes always make it easier for me to keep track of cites.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC for my review.