454THALIDOMIDE: A FRIEND OR FOEThalidomide, a glutamic acid enantiomer was first synthesized in West Germany in 1954 and was introduced as an over the counter medication. It was thought to be one of the safest sedative and emerged as a miracle drug for motion sickness and soon became popular because of its effectiveness in small doses, was not addictive, did not produce motor impairment and even accidental overdosing did not result in adverseeffects and deaths. However, by 1960 it became clear that long-term thalidomide use was associated with polyneuritis and congenital abnormalities such as phocomelia and they began to appear in infants born to women who used thalidomide during pregnancy. In mid-1961, thalidomide was withdrawn from the world market due to the increasing numbers of infants born with deformities. Thalidomide, after being banned from the market in the early 1960s because of the worldwide teratogenesis disaster, is currently being rediscovered because of its multiple therapeutic effects in various serious diseases and symptoms. Thalidomide at present is being investigated in vast areas that include anxiety, hypnosis, insomnia, cancer cachexia, emesis, adjuvant analgesia, arthritis and leprosy associated fever. Beside that recent findings shows promising results in patients with progressive bodyweight loss related to advanced cancer and HIV infection. Thalidomide therapy has also shown promise in tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, aphthous ulcers in HIV syndrome, Behcet’s disease, multiple myeloma, graft-versus-host disease, pyodermagangrenosum, inflammatory bowel disease, Sjögren’s syndrome, lupus erythematosus and a variety of solid tumors. Although several areas has been explored yet, the risk of return of monster cannot be ruled out and utmost precaution and medical supervision is recommended when thalidomide is thought to be used as children with such defects are still being born today, particularly in Africa, Brazil and South America where thalidomide is now increasingly used in treating leprosy without vigilance and precaution.viveksharma_pharma@yahoo.co.inResearch612016Cytokines,Thalidomide,TeratogenecityRajender Guleria,Kunjan Gupta,Vivek SharmaGovernment College of Pharmacy, Rohru District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh-171207, India.,Government College of Pharmacy, Rohru District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh-171207, India.,Government College of Pharmacy, Rohru District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh-171207, India.