I see the analogy you're drawing. But, in the case of food, there are plenty of other restaurants and grocery stores that can sell you food. Also there are food banks that give away food for free.
But, with medicine, such as in this case, often there is only one company that can provide it. And this company was providing it for "compassionate" reasons until two years ago, when the company made a decision to stop. Now there's nowhere else to go.
As for the analogy to thalidomide: That was used to help pregnant women control nausea. It wasn't a life-saving drug.
Whereas, in this story, the drug has already proven to be life-saving. It seems the FDA policies might be what's holding back this medicine.
No it wasn't but the lesson is the same. It wasn't thoroughly tested on humans to determine the potential side effects which could be catastrophic....and were.....
Desperate people are willing to go to desperate means in order to possibly cure an incurrable disease and when the miracle cure proves to be a nightmare, as Thalidomide did, they then turn to the pharmaceutical company to place the blame..........