50 years ago, a drug that crippled a generation found new life as a leprosy treatment
Excerpt from the July 19, 1969 issue of Science News
![thalidomide](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/061019_cm_50ya-thalidomide_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
SECOND CHANCE Thalidomide, a sedative prescribed to pregnant women in the 1950s and early 1960s, was banned for causing severe birth defects such as malformed limbs. The drug found new life, though, as a leprosy treatment, and is still used today.
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