ArticleTherapeutic advances in hematology2011
The rise, fall and subsequent triumph of thalidomide: lessons learned in drug development.
Article in Therapeutic advances in hematology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 183 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integration of healthy volunteers in early phase clinical trials with immuno-oncological compounds.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
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- ERα Micromap (µMap) proximity labeling reveals fulvestrant mechanisms.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The synthetic landscape of cereblon (CRBN) binders: from thalidomide to emerging chemotypes.Chemical Society reviews · 2026Review
- Medicinal Chemistry Perspectives on Drug Repurposing: Innovative Approaches and Therapeutic Breakthrough.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Review
- Gene-guided repurposing identifies dihydroergotamine as a candidate inhibitor of the BCL2-SIVA1 axis in advanced gastric cancer in vitro.Biology direct · 2026Article
- The Multifaceted Legacy of Thalidomide: Chemistry and Biology Driving Modern Drug Design.ChemMedChem · 2026Review
- Induced proximity-based therapeutic modalities.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Epigenetic regulation of Cereblon in cancer: molecular mechanisms and clinical implications.Genes & genomics · 2025Article
- Association between novel agents targeting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 and cancer incidence.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Phocomelia: Bilateral limb deficiency in a neonate: A case report.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2025Article
- Advancing the human right to health in cancer care through drug repurposing strategies.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Phenotypic and targeted drug discovery in immune therapeutics: challenges, opportunities, and future directions.RSC advances · 2025Review
- In-Cell Approach to Evaluate E3 Ligases for Use in Targeted Protein Degradation.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Article
- Serendipity in Neuro-Oncology: The Evolution of Chemotherapeutic Agents.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Multiple Myeloma: Improved Outcomes Resulting from a Rapidly Expanding Number of Therapeutic Options.Targeted oncology · 2025Review
- Molecular mechanisms of thalidomide effectiveness on COVID-19 patients explained: ACE2 is a new ΔNp63α target gene.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2024Article
- Targeted protein degradation: from mechanisms to clinic.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2024Review
- Ubiquitin: Not just a one-way ticket to the proteasome, but a therapeutic dial to fine-tune the molecular landscape of disease.Clinical and translational medicine · 2024Review
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Perhaps no other drug in modern medicine rivals the dramatic revitalization of thalidomide. Originally marketed as a sedative, thalidomide gained immense popularity worldwide among pregnant women because of its effective anti-emetic properties in morning sickness. Mounting evidence of human teratogenicity marked a dramatic fall from grace and led to widespread social, legal and economic ramifications. Despite its tragic past thalidomide emerged several decades later as a novel and highly effective agent in the treatment of various inflammatory and malignant diseases. In 2006 thalidomide completed its remarkable renaissance becoming the first new agent in over a decade to gain approval for the treatment of plasma cell myeloma. The catastrophic collapse yet subsequent revival of thalidomide provides important lessons in drug development. Never entirely abandoned by the medical community, thalidomide resurfaced as an important drug once the mechanisms of action were further studied and better understood. Ongoing research and development of related drugs such as lenalidomide now represent a class of irreplaceable drugs in hematological malignancies. Further, the tragedies associated with this agent stimulated the legislation which revamped the FDA regulatory process, expanded patient informed consent procedures and mandated more transparency from drug manufacturers. Finally, we review recent clinical trials summarizing selected medical indications for thalidomide with an emphasis on hematologic malignancies. Herein, we provide a historic perspective regarding the up-and-down development of thalidomide. Using PubMed databases we conducted searches using thalidomide and associated keywords highlighting pharmacology, mechanisms of action, and clinical uses.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.