From Nightmare Drug to Celgene Blockbuster, Thalidomide Is Back

The modern drug-regulation system traces back to a once-popular morning-sickness pill whose linkage to babies born with flipper-like limbs in the 1960s led the U.S. to tighten oversight for approving medications.

That makes it all the more amazing that Celgene Corp. has built itself into a biotech powerhouse, rebranding the drug thalidomide using a slightly different name: Thalomid. Recently unsealed documents in a lawsuit by a company saleswoman-turned-whistle-blower allege that its success is due to an aggressive campaign to encourage doctors to prescribe it and successor drugs to treat maladies beyond those the Food and Drug Administration authorized.

After some ...