Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
VV
Thursday, April 30, 1998
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Abortion pill may hit U.S. market in 1999
The Associated Press
RU-486 tests continue
BOSTON — The first formal testing of the abortion pill RU-486 in the United States found that it successfully ended pregnancies in 92 percent of women.
Although the drug already has been widely tested and used in Europe, the Food and Drug Administration requested that additional studies of its safety and effectiveness be done in the United States.
The drug's U.S. developer says it hopes to have the pill on the market sometime next year.
In this study, the drug was slightly less effective than in earlier European experiments, where it triggered abortions in 96 percent to 98 percent of women.
need for surgery. The approach was considered a failure if women did not abort after 15 days, although some abortions might have occurred after that.
Success meant that the women expelled their fetuses without the
The researchers said the pill may have appeared to work less well in this test because U.S. doctors were inexperienced at giving abortion medicines or because of the way the study was designed.
"The side effects we saw are what are expected for the drug to work," Ann Robbins said. "You need to bleed, and you have to have cramps, and that's what we saw."
Robbins was the study's manager at the Population Council, which was given U.S. rights to the medicine in 1994 by the French manufacturer Roussel Uelaf. The FDA declared the drug safe and effective in 1996.
The Population Council licensed its rights to the drug to the Danco Group, a pharmaceutical firm, after plans to get the drug made by a Hungarian company fell through.
At Danco, representative Heather O'Neill said the company had found a manufacturer, which she
declined to identify, and was working out details with the FDA to get the drug on the market in 1999.
The study found the drug was most effective when given within 49 days of gestation. The longer a woman had been pregnant, the less likely the pill was to work.
The drug, also known as mifepristone, blocks the effects of a hormone that is necessary to maintain pregnancy.
Two days after taking the pill, the woman must return to her doctor's office to take a hormone called mispristol, which causes uterine contractions to expel the fetus. The woman must wait there four hours in case of severe reactions, such as diarrhea and nausea and about half abort during this time.
April Holley, a representative of the National Right to Life Committee, said the organization had not reviewed the study and had no comment about it.
The study was conducted on 2,121 women at 17 Planned Parenthood clinics, freestanding abortion clinics and university hospitals across the country.
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Tags give license to politics
Florida plates to bear anti-abortion message
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Amid protests against putting an anti-abortion message on vehicle license tags, a "Choose Life" specialty plate won approval yesterday in the Florida Legislature.
The bright yellow plate with drawings of a smiling boy and girl would be the first of about 40 Florida specialty plates to bear a political message. It passed the Florida House 77-41 a day after clearing the Senate 28-12. Gov. Lawton Chiles was expected to let the measure become law. In Florida, a bill becomes law without a signature if the governor does not veto it within 15 days.
"This is the year of the child, for heaven's sake," said Republican Sen. John Grant during yesterday's debate, referring to spending increases for education, health care and other children's programs. "Why can't we say 'choose life'?"
Democratic Sen. Buddy Dyer got a laugh during the heated debate with his suggestion that, "Next year, when we bring back 'Vote Democratic' I would expect you to support that plate."
But critics said the message was a political statement on abortion, not merely a pro-adoption statement.
The specialty tags already honor everything from the endangered Florida panther to the NHL's Florida Panthers. There are plates for education, the arts, state universities, veterans groups and other professional sports teams.
Other new plates are sailing through the Legislature without problems, including tags for wild dolphins, the Florida Everglades and Barry University.
"If we think road rage is a problem now, we can't imagine what it will be like when people start wanting to put all their political views on license plates," said Renee Mitchell, the director of a Tallahassee women's clinic.
Nearly three-fourths of the proceeds from the $20-a-year tag would support the care of needy mothers and infants. The rest is earmarked for adoption services.
The organization that crafted the bill. Choose Life Inc., has collected 10,000 signatures in support of the plate and paid the $30,000 fee to the state to develop it.
Nothing in state law restricts the subject matter of specialty tags. There are already 41 themes.
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