“WONDER DRUG” LAUNCHED 06/27/2023
How Many Thalidomide babies Were born in the US?
Every source from 1962 through 2019 has quoted an incorrect number of “thalidomide babies” born in the United States. FDA records investigated by journalist Jennifer Vanderbes suggest that dozens of babies were never identified or officially counted.
The official FDA count released in the 1960s was seventeen thalidomide babies born in the United States. Nine of them were born to mothers who took samples made by American drug companies. Eight other mothers said they obtained the drug in other countries.
There were many more. In 2023, Random House released WONDER DRUG: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THALIDOMIDE IN AMERICA AND ITS HIDDEN VICTIMS, detailing the previously unreported suspicions raised by the original FDA investigation.
WATCH OUR DOCUMENTARY
Thalidomide in the USA: the Forgotten Survivors
A few of approximately 75 Members we have located since 2016
Bonnie: born in Illinois in 1962
JoJo: born in New York in 1962
Jean: born in Ohio in 1962
Gwen: born in Ohio in 1962
Darren: born in Missouri in 1962
Kim: born in Pennsylvania in 1959
Jan: born in Oklahoma in 1962
Tawana: born in North Carolina in 1963
Gianna: born on a US Military Base in 1962
John: born in Mississippi in 1959
Terrie: born in 1964
Bobbie:
Leslie: born in Maryland, 1959
Marta:
Randall: born on a US military base, Madrid, Spain, 1958
Latest News
Thalidomide Survivors Speak Out in People magazine
Learn more about the American thalidomide survivors' quest for justice more than 60 years after their mothers unwittingly took samples of the unapproved drug while pregnant in the July 25 2023 issue of People magazine
Interview with Wonder Drug author Jennifer Vanderbes on The Jimmy Malone Show
Cleveland Radio host and comedian Jimmy Malone talks with author Jennifer Vanderbes about the hidden history of thalidomide in America. Jimmy remembers the incomplete story told in magazine and newspaper stories in the 1960s.
Harvard Public Health Magazine reviews Wonder Drug:
Richard J. Tofel, a member of Harvard Public Health's advisory board and former ProPublica president, reviewed the "riveting new book 'Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims' by Jennifer Vanderbes in this July 17 article:...
Washington Post reviews “Wonder Drug” to be published by Random House on June 27, 2023
In the Washington Post today, Perri Klass, a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University, reviews the new book "Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and its Hidden Victims” by Jennifer Vanderbes, to be released by Random House on...
NPR interview with Jennifer Vanderbes on her new book “Wonder Drug”
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe interviewed author Jennifer Vanderbes about her new book, Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims on Weekend Edition June 25, 2023.
New book from Random House will tell the true story of thalidomide in America for the first time
Jennifer Vanderbes, author of "WONDER DRUG: the Secret History of Thalidomide in America and its Hidden Victims"Award-winning author Jennifer Vanderbes discovered the existence of a growing community of US survivors who had begun to find each other, and was the first...
From Our Blog
Book Review: WONDER DRUG
This book for me has been 61 years in the making. I am a character in the book — honestly, I really am. And so are a lot of my friends from U.S. Thalidomide Survivors, a nonprofit formed only a few years ago in 2018. This book is us. This book literally helped us find...
Why we had to make “Thalidomide in the USA: the Forgotten Survivors”
The fact that the world still thinks there were no -- or very few -- thalidomide survivors born in the US is still a source of amazement for me. We have done an exceptional job, I feel, of documenting our story in this website, and traffic has increased each month. US...
A 60th anniversary, and “Prescribing Horror” — a week for thalidomide
It has been a week in the thalidomide world. November 27 marked the 60th anniversary of the market withdrawal of Contergan (the German trademark name for thalidomide). This anniversary was commemorated by the German Association of People affected by Thalidomide...