Friday, April 3rd

Discussants and chairs

9:15

Brazil: the country where thalidomide
embryopathy is still an unfortunate reality

Christoph Gradmann
Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo

Fernanda Sales Luiz Vianna | Institute of Bioscience,Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre

Kohei Shiota
Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan

Thalidomide in India: a review of its use andimpact and implications for regulation

Sarah Ferber
University of Wollongong, Australia

Anita Kar | Birth Defects and Childhood Disability
Research Centre, Pune

Jean-Paul Gaudillière
Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, Paris

10:00

10:45

Coffee break

Panel 4: History and Ethics
Chair: Christoph Gradmann
Discussant: Sarah Ferber

11:30

The impact of the thalidomide disaster in thecampaign for abortion law reform in Britain,
1961 – 1967

Please, register by March 22
by sending a message to:ludger.wimmelbuecker@charite.deSusanne Klausen | Department of History,
Carleton University, Ottawa

12:15

Institut für Geschichte der Medizin
und Ethik in der Medizin

13:00

Lunch

14:15

Thalidomide, print media and the legal
battle for the rights of the Brazilian
thalidomide survivors in a dictatorshipcontext, 1976 – 1983

Venue

Hotel Aquino
Conference centre
Hannoversche Straße 5b
10115 Berlin

José Augusto Leandro & Francieli Lunelli Santos |Department of History, State University ofPonta Grossa, Paraná

15:00

The recent attempt of the German Thalidomide Foundation to stop compensation
payments to beneficiaries in Brazil, Mexicoand Finland and the role of the media

15:45

Final comment

Interdisciplinary Perspectives of ResearchThis workshop is sponsored by theFritz Thyssen Foundation.

Risky Pregnancies: Teratology, Clinical
Genetics and the Management of BirthDefects in West Germany after Thalidomide
Birgit Nemec | Institute for History and Ethics ofMedicine, University of Heidelberg

Thalidomide Past and Present

Christian Baars | North German Broadcasting (NDR)
Jean-Paul Gaudillière

Discussion

Central railway station

International workshop
Berlin, April 2–3, 2020

Layout Folder: AS | ZMD, Charité | Fotos: ??? | Kartendaten © 2020 GeoBasis-DE/BKG (©2009), Google | CC1 | Thalidomide.indd | 01-20

Against the background of the world-wide use of drugs
that have known or suspected toxic effects on the unborn, this workshop focuses on the current status ofresearch on thalidomide as an active substance, in a
number of different contexts and uses, from the mid1950s to the present. The workshop will bring together
researchers working on various aspects of the drug,and includes contributions from the fields of history,
biochemistry, toxicology, human genetics, medicalsciences, ethics, and journalism.
The story of the identification of the embryotoxic
effects of thalidomide and its resulting influence on
pharmaceutical legislation continue to be used as
an important point of reference in debates on drug
security. Beyond its historical importance in this andadditional respects, the drug is an outstanding case inpoint for the limits of scientific knowledge and ways ofdealing with the consequences of this understanding.
This holds for the ongoing studies on thalidomide’s
toxicological mechanisms as well as for the assessmentof the ante-natal damages; its use in diverse regionsof the world; and a notable number of questions of
ethical concerns. Discussions in these areas may open
a way to a deeper and fuller understanding regarding
the relevance of the toxic effects of drugs on the unborn under the changing conditions of pharmaceuticalproduction and consumption.

Thursday, April 2nd
8:45

Participants convene

9:00

Welcome

12:15

Volker Hess, Ludger Wimmelbücker

Panel 1: History of Research
Chair: Jean-Paul Gaudillière
Discussant: Kohei Shiota

9:15

10:00

Hiroshi Handa | Department of Nanoparticle
Translational Research, Tokyo Medical University

13:00

Lunch

14:15

Thalidomide teratogenicity uncovered:
the central role of p63 and CRBN

Animal and human testing of psychopharmaceuticals during the 1950s: challenges posedby the “safe” compound thalidomide
Arthur Daemmrich | National Museum of American
History, Washington DC

A notorious drug and a sensational remedy:
a global perspective on thalidomide in thetreatment of leprosy

Luisa Guerrini | Department of Biosciences,
University of Milan

Panel 3: Birth defects
Chair: Sarah Ferber
Discussant: Kohei Shiota, Christoph Gradmann

15:00

Ludger Wimmelbücker | Institute for the History ofMedicine and Ethics in Medicine, Berlin

10:45

15:45
Chair: Jean-Paul Gaudillière
Discussant: Kohei Shiota

11:30

Thalidomide: mechanisms and new uses
Neil Vargesson | Institute of Medical Sciences,
University of Aberdeen

Thalidomide embryopathy: a continuing
clinical dilemma
Sahar Mansour | Molecular and Clinical Sciences
Institute, St George’s University of London

Coffee break

Panel 2: New Uses

Anticancer drug development from thediscovery of cereblon as the target ofthalidomide embryopathy

Thalidomide, genes, or environment –mechanisms and legal aspects of limb
malformations
Uwe Kornak | Institute of Human Genetics,University of Göttingen