On Oct. 3, 1959 Grünenthal received a letter from Dr. Ralph Voss, a famous Düsseldorf neurologist. Voss reported on one case of polyneuritis that he thought was connected to the intake of Contergan. Voss asked Grünenthal “if they know anything about this, if Contergan can possibly damage the peripheral nerve system.” Dr. Gotthold Werner (head of Grünenthal’s medical and scientific department) and Dr. Günther Sievers (in charge of Thalidomide within the medical and scientific department) replied to Dr. Voss saying that so far they had never heard of any nerve damage.

This response was not truthful. (See timeline-March 1956 letter from Dr. Piacenza and others)

Source: Anklageschrift (indictment) from 1967, today archived at the National Archives of North Rhine-Westphalia in Duisburg, Germany (Rheinland Division, Gerichte Rep. 139, No. 1–396), pp. 74ff.