Problems with Triparanol.

In the same decade that thalidomide deformed thousands of babies around the world, more drugs were learned to have unexpected side effects. One was the Merrell's MER/29, or triparanol, marketed to lower blood cholesterol. The drug was found to cause baldness and blindness from an unusual form of cataracts. The FDA learned that these cataracts had been noted in animal studies required for approval of the drug, but Merrell failed to mention the finding to the FDA in the approval request. The FDA brought charges against Merrell, the parent company (Richardson-Merrell, Incorporated), and three former executives.

Antibiotic Risks of Chloramphenicol.

Another drug with unexpected side effects was chloramphenicol, known by the trade name Chloromycetin (Parke, Davis and Company), an antibiotic particularly useful against some rare and tropical diseases and lifesaving against certain types of meningitis. When confined to the treatment...