Health Authorities, Women Need To Examine Data, Consider Risks Of Mifeprex, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 12 Apr 2006 - 15:00 PDT


It "seems premature" to remove from the market Danco Laboratories' Mifeprex -- known generically as mifepristone, which when taken with misoprostol can cause a medical abortion -- "given the uncertainties and small number of deaths in a still-unfolding story," though women seeking abortion need "to weigh the risks and benefits carefully" before deciding to use the drug, a New York Times editorial says (New York Times, 4/10). Since FDA approved Mifeprex, there have been about 560,000 medical abortions using the drug, and the agency has received reports of six deaths among women who took the drug (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/3). Researchers still need to determine if either mifepristone or misoprostol "might be at fault" for the deaths, "whether vaginal insertion is to blame and whether changes in a family of bacteria have made them more lethal," but in the interim, women who take Mifeprex need to be "alert to any symptoms of illness," the editorial says (New York Times, 4/10).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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