David Bianculli

It was incredibly potent that way. and tragic, as it turned out. And more than 10,000 babies, and some estimates are up to 20,000 babies, primarily in Europe, Canada, Australia, were born with some really horrific birth defects, and a large number of them died shortly after birth.

And this was just a horrific scandal that rocked the developed world in the 60s and led to a number of reforms for how drugs are tested for safety. including here in the United States.

And this was just a horrific scandal that rocked the developed world in the 60s and led to a number of reforms for how drugs are tested for safety. including here in the United States.

And this was just a horrific scandal that rocked the developed world in the 60s and led to a number of reforms for how drugs are tested for safety. including here in the United States.

Yeah, the way I understand it is it deprived the fetus of new blood vessels that the fetus needed to develop.

Yeah, the way I understand it is it deprived the fetus of new blood vessels that the fetus needed to develop.

Yeah, the way I understand it is it deprived the fetus of new blood vessels that the fetus needed to develop.

That's exactly right. Right.

That's exactly right. Right.

That's exactly right. Right.

So Ira Wollmer, Beth's husband, was an interventional cardiologist in the New York area who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in his 30s. Unfortunately for him, this was in the mid to late 1990s when there were really few options for myeloma patients.

So Ira Wollmer, Beth's husband, was an interventional cardiologist in the New York area who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in his 30s. Unfortunately for him, this was in the mid to late 1990s when there were really few options for myeloma patients.

So Ira Wollmer, Beth's husband, was an interventional cardiologist in the New York area who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in his 30s. Unfortunately for him, this was in the mid to late 1990s when there were really few options for myeloma patients.

So they went all over the country to different cancer centers looking for a doctor who could promise them something more than just, you know, a couple of years. And they ended up in Arkansas with a doctor named Bart Barlogi, who was gaining a reputation for trying just about anything to help multiple myeloma patients.

So they went all over the country to different cancer centers looking for a doctor who could promise them something more than just, you know, a couple of years. And they ended up in Arkansas with a doctor named Bart Barlogi, who was gaining a reputation for trying just about anything to help multiple myeloma patients.

So they went all over the country to different cancer centers looking for a doctor who could promise them something more than just, you know, a couple of years. And they ended up in Arkansas with a doctor named Bart Barlogi, who was gaining a reputation for trying just about anything to help multiple myeloma patients.

And people literally from all over the world were going to his clinic in Little Rock. So the Womers arrived there, and unfortunately for Ira Womer, he wasn't getting better. They did some stem cell transplants with him, but he relapsed after each one of them and was just getting sicker and sicker. But Beth Womer wouldn't quit. You know, she would read medical journals all day long.

And people literally from all over the world were going to his clinic in Little Rock. So the Womers arrived there, and unfortunately for Ira Womer, he wasn't getting better. They did some stem cell transplants with him, but he relapsed after each one of them and was just getting sicker and sicker. But Beth Womer wouldn't quit. You know, she would read medical journals all day long.

And people literally from all over the world were going to his clinic in Little Rock. So the Womers arrived there, and unfortunately for Ira Womer, he wasn't getting better. They did some stem cell transplants with him, but he relapsed after each one of them and was just getting sicker and sicker. But Beth Womer wouldn't quit. You know, she would read medical journals all day long.

She'd call researchers all over the world. She was, you know, bound and determined to find anything that would help her husband. And it was in the course of doing that that a researcher told her about the work of Judah Folkman in Boston. who had a theory that if you could block blood vessel growth, you could starve tumors of what they needed to grow. And his lab was studying thalidomide.