Canada
- Thalidomide was officially available in Canada from April 1, 1961 to March 2, 1962 under the trade-names “Kevadon” and “Talimol” (some pharmacies sold it until May 1962). But Canadian doctors were handing out thousands of sample pills given to them by US drug company Richardson-Merrell as early as 1959.
- Unlike in the US, where a persistent Dr. Frances Kelsey at the FDA blocked the introduction of Thalidomide because of safety concerns, the Canadian FDD simply approved its sale. Canada was also one of the last countries to take the drug off the market. Ironically Dr. Kelsey was Canadian.
- At least 120 Thalidomide babies were born in Canada. 94 of them are still alive today.
- Left alone by their government, Canadian survivors would take their cases into US courtrooms in the 1970s where civil awards tended to be larger. After protracted legal fights Richardson-Merrell agreed to pay them modest settlement amounts, most of them ranging between $100,000 and $250,000 (at least one person received $999,000). The Canadian government didn’t offer any compensation at the time, apart from supplying them with special prosthetic arms and legs that were of no use to most survivors. (In fact, only 2 Canadians Thalidomiders ever got used to wearing those prosthetics).
- In 1987 Canadian Thalidomiders joined together to form the “Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada” (TVAC), assisted by the Canadian War Amps. Among the five founding members of TVAC were Paul Murphy and Alvin Law. Together they hoped they would have more success in receiving proper compensation from their government.
- The first time the Canadian government financially compensated its survivors was 30 years after the withdrawal of the drug. In 1991 Ottawa awarded them small one-time payments (between $52,000 and $82,000 per person). In 2015 Ottawa finally announced another long-waited compensation package: $125,000 for each survivor plus an annual tax-free pension for the rest of their lives of $25,000, $75,000 or $100,000 depending on the severity of their condition.
- The Canadian government allowed Thalidomide to be on the market for four additional months after it was banned in Germany. As a result 30 Thalidomide children were born in Canada whose mothers took the drug in that period.
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