Be aware of availability bias here. If a medication did not make it into the news because of problems, we are a lot less likely to have ever heard of it.
Agreed. But in the case of Primodos, there were cover-ups with government involvement for decades. The end result was that Matt Hancock apologized. That was it. No holding to account. No fixing the system so it wouldn't happen again. That's what undermines my confidence in the system.
The name of the drug was "Contergan" in german which german-speaking readers might recognize more easily.