https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_sulfanilamide
In 1937, S. E. Massengill Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, created a preparation of sulfanilamide using diethylene glycol (DEG) as a solvent, and called the preparation "Elixir Sulfanilamide". DEG is poisonous to humans and other mammals, but Harold Watkins, the company's chief pharmacist and chemist, was not aware of this. (Though the first case of a fatality from ethylene glycol occurred in 1930 and studies had been published in medical journals stating DEG could cause kidney damage or failure, its toxicity was not widely known prior to the incident.) Watkins simply added raspberry flavoring to the sulfa drug which he had dissolved in DEG and the company then marketed the product. Animal testing was not required by law, and Massengill performed none; there were no regulations requiring premarket safety testing of new drugs.
The company started selling and distributing the medication in September 1937. By October 11, the American Medical Association received a report of several deaths caused by the medication. The Food and Drug Administration was notified, and an extensive search was conducted to recover the distributed medicine. Frances Oldham Kelsey assisted on a research project that verified that the excipient DEG was responsible for the fatal adverse effects. At least 100 deaths were blamed on the medication.
The owner of the company, when pressed to admit some measure of culpability, infamously answered, "We have been supplying a legitimate professional demand and not once could have foreseen the unlooked-for results. I do not feel that there was any responsibility on our part." Watkins, the chemist, committed suicide while awaiting trial.
(On edit: This is the same company that invented disposable douche bags. You can still get Massengill Disposable Douche, but another company makes it now.)
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