Thalidomide maker apologises

It has taken half a century for the victims of birth defect pregnancy drug Thalidomide to receive an apology from its German inventors.

Here is a timeline of key events in the decades-long Thalidomide scandal:

• 1953 - The drug was created in Germany by the Grunenthal Group.
• 1958 - Thalidomide was first licensed for use in the UK.

• 1961 - An increase in deformed babies being born is discovered - all to mothers who had taken thalidomide. The drug was withdrawn later that year.

• 1968 - UK manufacturers Distillers Biochemicals Limited (now Diageo) reach a compensation settlement following a legal battle by the families of those affected.
• 2004 - Thalidomide is made available on a named patient basis, but under strict controls.

The chief executive of the German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal - who made the anti-morning sickness drug thalidomide - has apologised. Here is an extract of his speech:

The German manufacturer of anti-morning sickness drug thalidomide has made an apology five decades on to the thousands of children born without limbs as a result of its use.

The apology by the German inventors, pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal is made in a speech given today by its chief executive Harald Stock at the inauguration of a special memorial in Stolberg.

The advance text of the speech, published on the company's main website, refers to a Mr Igel, thought to be Johannes Igel who campaigned for donations towards the "erection or maintenance" of a public memorial in Stolberg commemorating the victims of the thalidomide.

A British charity has rejected an apology from the German company which invented the birth defect drug Thalidomide.

The Grunenthal Group, apologising for the first time in 50 years, said it "regrets" the consequences of the drug which was used to combat morning sickness. But Thalidomide UK Agency said the company should "put their money where their mouth is" rather than just say sorry.