[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 171 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46750-46751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-23383]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Workshop on Thalidomide: Potential Benefits and Risks

    Notice is hereby given of the NIH workshop on ``Thalidomide: 
Potential Benefits and Risks,'' which will be held September 9-10, 
1997, in the Natcher Conference Center of the National Institutes of 
Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. The conference 
begins at 8:30 a.m. on September 9 and at 8 a.m. on September 10.
    Thalidomide was associated in 1961 with serious human 
teratogenicity. Its use in the treatment of morning sickness

[[Page 46751]]

and insomnia was abandoned, and it became infamous as an example of a 
drug with major toxic effects. Thalidomide is now being studied as a 
treatment for many serious diseases, including erythema nodosum 
leprosum, chronic graft-versus-host disease, and aphthous ulcers in 
patients with and without HIV infection.
    The purpose of the workshop is to provide a public forum to assess 
the emerging research opportunities, potential clinical applications, 
and accompanying risks associated with the use of thalidomide. The 
meeting is open to researchers, academic and community-based 
physicians, nurses, pharmacists, other health care professionals, 
industry personnel, patients, and other interested individuals.
    The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Rare Diseases, the 
Office of Research on Women's Health, the Office of Medical 
Applications of Research, the National Institute of Allergy and 
Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Arthritis and 
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute of Dental 
Research, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development of the National Institutes of Health; by the Center for 
Drug Evaluation and Research and the Office of Special Health Issues of 
the Food and Drug Administration; and by the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
    Advance information on the conference program and conference 
registration materials may be obtained from Prospect Associates, 1801 
Rockville Pike, Suite 500, Rockville, Maryland 20852, (301) 468-MEET; 
by e-mail to [email protected]; or at http://
rarediseases.info.nih.gov/ord on the World Wide Web.

    Dated August 12, 1997.
Ruth L. Kirschstein,
Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 97-23383 Filed 9-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M