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Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, whose tireless efforts uncovered a link between the drug thalidomide and severe birth defects, has died at age 101.

In 1960, Kelsey was the new medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration when an application for FDA approval of the sedative Kevadon, the trade name of thalidomide, manufactured by drug company William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati.

Thalidomide had already been sold to pregnant women in Europe and elsewhere as an anti-nausea drug to treat morning sickness, and Merrell wanted a license to do the same in the U.S.

 reports, Kelsey asked for more information.


 adds, "[the] tragedy was largely averted in the United States, with much credit due to Kelsey. ... For a critical 19-month period, she fastidiously blocked its approval while drug company officials maligned her as a bureaucratic nitpicker."
The 

 described Kelsey as a "heroine" whose "skepticism and stubbornness ... prevented what could have been an appalling American tragedy."
Kelsey, a physician and pharmacologist, died on Aug. 7. Her daughter confirmed her death to 

Health

The physician and pharmacologist worked at the government agency in the early 1960s, when she uncovered a link between the drug and severe birth defects.

Frances Kelsey, FDA officer who blocked thalidomide, dies at 101

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