• Thalidomide was sold in West-Germany between October 1, 1957 and November 27, 1962 under various trade names. The most popular ones were “Contergan” and “Contergan Forte”. Until June 1961 the drug was available without prescription.

• About 5,000 Thalidomide babies were born in West-Germany. 40 percent of them died shortly after birth or in early infancy. Around 2,500 Thalidomiders are still living in Germany (East and West) today.

• In 1967 the Aachen prosecution charged nine senior Grünenthal employees including lead scientists and executives with involuntary manslaughter, physical injury resulting from negligence and malicious injury. The resulting trial went on for over two years before it was abruptly suspended in 1970 without a verdict. A secret deal had been made behind closed doors.

• Grünenthal agreed to pay DM 100 million (about $30m CDN at the time) into a victim’s foundation – but only under the condition that no survivor would ever be allowed to sue the company again. (The West-German government matched the DM 100 million.) Starting in October 1972, the foundation paid survivors one (modest) single lump sum (between 2,500 DM and 25,000 DM/$770 CDN and $7,700 CDN at the time) depending on the severity of their condition. They also started to receive small monthly pensions (between 100 DM and 450 DM/$30 CDN and $140 CDN at the time). By 1997 the money Grünenthal originally provided had completely run out. Ever since the monthly Contergan pensions have been entirely paid for by the German government.

• In 2009 Grünenthal “voluntarily” put another 50 million Euros (about $39m CDN) into the foundation, to be used for special services that survivors specifically have to apply for.

• In the past few years the German government finally significantly increased the monthly pensions. Today survivors in Germany receive yearly payments ranging from €7,620 ($10,800 CDN) to €86,100 ($122,160 CDN). Since 1972 Grünenthal paid a total of 100 million Euros ($156m CDN). That’s less than the German government currently pays them every year.

• In 1957 West Germany was the only country in the European Economic Community, that didn’t have a national Medical Law. When Grünenthal put Thalidomide on the market, there was no legal public procedure in place that would have controlled or monitored the approval process of the new drug. That didn’t change until 1976.

• Thalidomide was never officially available in the former Eastern part of Germany (GDR). Health authorities there questioned the drug’s safety, saying it was never properly tested. Still, Contergan pills were often illegally imported, leading to the birth of at least ten Thalidomide babies in the GDR. The actual figure might have been much higher. Mothers of malformed babies in the GDR could not openly speak about the possible connection to Thalidomide, because that would have meant admitting to having taken an illegally imported drug. Survivors born in the former Eastern part didn’t have access to compensation payments from the trust fund until Germany’s reunification in 1990.

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