The Gatekeeper

On Christmas day in 1956, a woman gave birth to a baby girl without ears. She was the first living victim of the notorious Thalidomide epidemic, of which there would go on to be over 10,000 more in forty-six countries across the world.

By the time Frances Kelsey received the New Drug Application at the Food and Drug Administration, pregnant women had been taking Thalidomide for almost three years to cure nausea and insomnia, and sales had soared into the millions. Yet Kelsey was sceptical about the potential toxicity of this this ‘wonder drug,’ and so began a fastidious nineteen-month-long battle to block its approval.

A tale of recklessness and greed, courage and heroism, The Gatekeeper is as timely now as it was sensational then. It documents a dramatic moment in history when countless lives were saved – not by governing bodies and elected officials, but by a lone female scientist who fought against powerful interests to expose the truth and prevent such a tragedy from ever recurring.

The story of Thalidomide marks a key turning point in the $1 trillion industry that still underpins our lives today and is emblematic of the seemingly endless battle between corporation and consumer protection.