Contergan. Part 1, One single tablet.

The first part of a dramatised film, based on historical evidence, about the effects of the drug Contergan (thalidomide) on the German population. The film begins in 1960 when a young married couple, Paul and Vera Wegener, expect their first child and Vera is prescribed Contergan for insomnia. At the same time, Paul, who is a lawyer, begins to represent a woman whose baby was born with severe limb defects. He notices that she took Contergan during her pregnancy. In 1961, certain members of the medical profession begin to have concerns about the side effects of Contergan and its safety during pregnancy but the drug company who produce it, Chemie Grunenthal, choose to ignore them. Vera gives birth to a daughter with very shortened arms and only one leg - the medics recommend the child be put into a home but the Wegeners take her home. Paul begins to suspect that Contergan might have had something to do with their daughter's disability and he discusses it with Vera who says he has to do something to warn other people. The remainder of this part shows the difficulties that Wegener and Dr Lange, who collected irrefutable evidence about the effects of Contergan on unborn infants, go through to get the case to court.