BOSTON, May 23: Thalidomide, the sedative banned worldwide since the 1960s for causing birth defects, has re-emerged as the only effective treatment for AIDS-related mouth ulcers.A study found that a month of treatment dramatically relieves this painful condition and clears it up entirely in about half who take it.

The drug has also proved useful against leprosy and may also help control some kinds of cancer.

Thalidomide, once sold in 48 countries as a sleeping pill and morning sickness cure, was banned worldwide in 1962 after some 12,000 babies were born with missing or malformed limbs, serious facial deformities and defective organs. It was never sold in the United States.

he latest study was led by Dr Jeffrey M Jacobson of the bronx veterans affairs medical center in New York city and was published in yesterday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Similar results were released two years ago by the National Institutes of Health. The study involved 67 HIV-infected patients with oral aphthous ulcers. They were randomly assigned to get thalidomide or dummy pills. Sixteen of 29 who got thalidomide, or 55 per cent, had complete healing of their ulcers, compared with just two of 28 in the comparison group.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.