The results of that trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1999.After further work was done by Celgene and others, in 2006 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval for thalidomide in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.It was also evaluated whether thalidomide can be combined with melphalan and prednisone for patients with multiple myeloma. This combination of drugs probably results in an increase of the overall survival. Society and culture
Birth defect crisis
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 10,000 children in 46 countries were born with deformities, such as phocomelia, as a consequence of thalidomide use. The severity and location of the deformities depended on how many days into the pregnancy the mother was before beginning treatment; thalidomide taken on the 20th day of pregnancy caused central brain damage, day 21 would damage the eyes, day 22 the ears and face, day 24 the arms, and leg damage would occur if taken up to day 28. Thalidomide did not damage the fetus if taken after 42 days gestation.It is not known exactly how many worldwide victims of the drug there have been, although estimates range from 10,000 to 20,000. Despite the side effects, thalidomide was sold in pharmacies in Canada until 1962.

Notable cases
Lorraine Mercer  MBE  of the United Kingdom, born with phocomelia of both arms and legs, is the only thalidomide survivor to carry the Olympic Torch.
However, thalidomide is a teratogenic substance, and a proportion of children born during the 1960s had thalidomide embryopathy (TE). Of these babies born with TE, "about 40% of them died before their first birthday". The surviving individuals are now middle-aged and they report experiencing challenges (physical, psychological, and socioeconomic) related to TE. Individuals born with TE frequently experience a wide variety of health problems secondary to their TE. These health conditions include both physical and psychological conditions. When compared to individuals of similar demographic profiles, those born with TE report less satisfaction with their quality of life and their overall health. Access to health care services can also be a challenge for these people, and women in particular have experienced difficulty in locating healthcare professionals who can understand and embrace their needs. Brand names
Brand names include Contergan, Thalomid, Talidex, Talizer, Neurosedyn, Distaval and many others. Research
Research efforts have been focused on determining how thalidomide causes birth defects and its other activities in the human body, efforts to develop safer analogs, and efforts to find further uses for thalidomide. Thalidomide analogs
The exploration of the antiangiogenic and immunomodulatory activities of thalidomide has led to the study and creation of thalidomide analogs. Celgene has sponsored numerous clinical trials with analogues to thalidomide, such as lenalidomide, that are substantially more powerful and have fewer side effects — except for greater myelosuppression. In 2005, Celgene received FDA approval for lenalidomide (Revlimid) as the first commercially useful derivative.