At a neurology congress in Düsseldorf, neurologist Dr. Ralph Voss talked about the nerve damage that he believed was caused by Contergan. According to the indictment, none of the other doctors who were present at the congress had noticed similar cases. It later turned out that the other doctors had often misdiagnosed similar symptoms.

Following Voss’ discoveries, the Grünenthal science department tried to repeat the nerve damage with tests on rats – without results. Dr. Heinrich Mückter (Grünenthal’s research director) therefore came to the conclusion that Contergan was very likely not responsible for nerve damage.

Sources: Chronology of events provided by Beate Kirk, in: Der Conterganfall: eine unvermeidbare Arzneimittelkatastrophe? Dissertation. Greifswald 1998.

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), p. 86.