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Abortion pill replacing contraceptive pill? |
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July 9, 2000
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A controversial European pill used to end pregnancies is being administered in Canada for the first time in clinical trials started last week by a Vancouver doctor. Dr. Ellen Wiebe, who has a private practice and works at Everywoman's Health Center, spent 18 months getting Canada's health regulators to approve the research on RU-486, known generically as mifepristone. Joyce Arthur, spokeswoman for the Pro-Choice Action Network, said Friday that approval came in April and the year-long study began last week in Vancouver with plans to extend it to Toronto, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke in Quebec. Scientists in the United States have been studying RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, for several years. It has been used in Europe since 1989 to give women the option of ending a pregnancy without the conventional surgical procedure of abortion. The pill can be taken up to nine weeks after conception. Under a physician's supervision, three pills are taken initially followed by two more pills 36 to 48 hours later. The pill induces uterine contractions, bleeding and a miscarriage. So far, it has proven effective about 95 percent of the time. Arthur said the research would examine the effectiveness of mifepristone in combination with prostaglandin, an ulcer medicine, as a termination pill up to five weeks after conception. One goal was to compare the drug to methotrexate, a medicine used for cancer and gastrointestinal disorders that also terminates pregnancy. Wiebe has used methotrexate in her practice for years, Arthur said. Methotrexate also has been commonly used in the United States since the mid-1990s. Arthur said methotrexate has a high effectiveness rate, more than 90 percent, but mifepristone combined with prostaglandin is considered quicker and more predictable. An anti-abortion group, the Campaign Life Coalition, condemned the clinical trials on Friday as another way to kill unborn children. It questioned whether the women taking part in the research were told about the composition of the drug and its possible side effects. Arthur said the side effects were minimal, calling the drug "very safe." Regulatory approval in Canada could take years, and Wiebe might continue conducting clinical trials of the medicine until such approval was granted, Arthur said. Wiebe said Thursday she waited until after the study began to announce it out of concern about possible violence by anti-abortion protesters. Exelgyn, the French company that produces RU-486, was reluctant to come to Canada because of anti-abortion violence, Wiebe said. From 1994 to 1998, three Canadian doctors who performed abortions were shot by unknown assailants. All survived the attacks. Because of security concerns, the Canadian locations of the supply of the drug were being kept secret, Wiebe said. Abortion pill replacing contraceptive pill? VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A controversial European pill used to end pregnancies is being administered in Canada for the first time in clinical trials started last week by a Vancouver doctor. Dr. Ellen Wiebe, who has a private practice and works at Everywoman's Health Center, spent 18 months getting Canada's health regulators to approve the research on RU-486, known generically as mifepristone. Joyce Arthur, spokeswoman for the Pro-Choice Action Network, said Friday that approval came in April and the year-long study began last week in Vancouver with plans to extend it to Toronto, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke in Quebec. Scientists in the United States have been studying RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, for several years. It has been used in Europe since 1989 to give women the option of ending a pregnancy without the conventional surgical procedure of abortion. The pill can be taken up to nine weeks after conception. Under a physician's supervision, three pills are taken initially followed by two more pills 36 to 48 hours later. The pill induces uterine contractions, bleeding and a miscarriage. So far, it has proven effective about 95 percent of the time. Arthur said the research would examine the effectiveness of mifepristone in combination with prostaglandin, an ulcer medicine, as a termination pill up to five weeks after conception. One goal was to compare the drug to methotrexate, a medicine used for cancer and gastrointestinal disorders that also terminates pregnancy. Wiebe has used methotrexate in her practice for years, Arthur said. Methotrexate also has been commonly used in the United States since the mid-1990s. Arthur said methotrexate has a high effectiveness rate, more than 90 percent, but mifepristone combined with prostaglandin is considered quicker and more predictable. An anti-abortion group, the Campaign Life Coalition, condemned the clinical trials on Friday as another way to kill unborn children. It questioned whether the women taking part in the research were told about the composition of the drug and its possible side effects. Arthur said the side effects were minimal, calling the drug "very safe." Regulatory approval in Canada could take years, and Wiebe might continue conducting clinical trials of the medicine until such approval was granted, Arthur said. Wiebe said Thursday she waited until after the study began to announce it out of concern about possible violence by anti-abortion protesters. Exelgyn, the French company that produces RU-486, was reluctant to come to Canada because of anti-abortion violence, Wiebe said. From 1994 to 1998, three Canadian doctors who performed abortions were shot by unknown assailants. All survived the attacks. Because of security concerns, the Canadian locations of the supply of the drug were being kept secret, Wiebe said. |