Business Notes

Can a drug that once shattered thousands of lives now offer hope to thousands of others? Pregnant women in the 1950s took thalidomide to combat morning sickness. When some 12,000 gave birth to tragically deformed children, the doomed drug was abruptly withdrawn. Now it is making a quiet comeback. Andrulis Pharmaceuticals of Beltsville, Md., and Pediatric Pharmaceuticals of Westfield, N.J., have asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve thalidomide for experimental use. Andrulis wants it for a clinical study of patients with bone-marrow transplants. By suppressing the immune response, thalidomide may prevent the new marrow from attacking the body. Pediatric plans to provide the drug to investigators of lupus and AIDS-related mouth ulcers, which thalidomide could curtail. These small firms may have the field to themselves -- giant drugmakers are still unlikely to embrace a medicine with such a grim reputation.