It happens all the time!
17 women took part in the U.S. in the thalidomide study! It was approved in other countries, and it was only not approved in the U.S. because of one woman. If she did that today, she would be fired.
There was another drug (I can't remember the name.) for woman that was approved in the early 2000s. The guy at the FDA refused to approve it, for many reasons. The company called his boss, and she overruled him. Even though he was a top employee, he left shortly after that.
How many women died while they were researching and approving "the pill." It was a lot!
It’s because of the DES and thalidomide studies that adversely affected thousands of women that experiments are not conducted now. Fortunately the FDA didn’t give its approval for thalidomide.
Prior to that, in the 40’s, DES was given to thousands of women who were never even told they were part of an experiment. Some of those babies, now adults and still alive, are dealing with the fallout from that.
Tylenal is different in that it’s produced for the general public and goes through the usual trials. It, like many drugs, is not made specifically for pregnant women. All pregnant women are told to avoid any drugs as much as possible. ACOG is the group to deal with this issue.