"Gruenenthal taking on someone like Dr Mueckter is one of the key factors we must highlight in the Thalidomide scandal, " says Gernot Stracke, a leading spokesman for survivors in Germany.

BBC: What's happened to Thalidomide babies?

The 1960s were when the Food and Drug Administration, in the wake of the thalidomide scandal, started requiring proof of efficacy and long-term safety, and when medicine started relying on clinical trials that compared new treatments to old ones or to inert sugar pills.

FORBES: We Drink More Than Don Draper But We Die Less Often