‘Test drugs on pregnant women to stop another thalidomide scandal’

Pregnant women must be routinely included in clinical trials to help them access medicines and “prevent another thalidomide scandal”, doctors have said.

At present, 99% cent of clinical trials exclude women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, according to experts at the British Pharmacological Society (BPS). Women are in the dark about the safety of thousands of common medications and many choose to “stop all their medication” immediately after becoming pregnant.

The BPS gave the example of antidepressants, which are taken by eight million people in Britain but have not been trialled in pregnant women. As a result some people stop the drugs, which puts them at risk of postnatal depression and suicide, one of the leading causes of death in new mothers.

The BPS is urging health officials to require pharmaceutical companies to “routinely include pregnant women, where safe and appropriate, in clinical research”. It said that companies should also monitor safety data for pregnant women taking approved drugs, and that doctors should balance the risk of potential harm to unborn babies with the danger to mothers of stopping or switching certain medications. 

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Source: The Times, 18 March 2026