thalidomide

{{pharmaceutical drug}} <span style="background:lightyellow"> (RS)-2-(2,6-dioxopiperidin-3-yl)-1H-isoindole-1,3(2H)dione </span> &mdash; <span style="background:lightcyan"> C₁₃H₁₀N₂O₄ </span> &mdash; A drug that was sold during the late 1950s and 1960s as a sleeping aid, and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms, but was withdrawn after being proven to cause severe birth defects, such as phocomelia; currently used to treat leprosy.