RU 486: headed for the United States?

Late last month, Roussel Uclaf, a French pharmaceutical firm, agreed to give up U.S. patent rights to the abortion pill known as RU 486 (mifepristone). Roussel donated the drug's U.S. rights to the Population Council, a nonprofit contraceptive research group based in New York City. The move is expected to pave the way for marketing the pill in the United States. RU 486 is widely available in France, Britain, Germany, and Sweden.

Roussel had been reluctant to bring RU 486 to the United States because of opposition by the antiabortion movement. The Clinton administration is credited with urging the French firm to work out an agreement with the Population Council.

Officials at the council say they will begin conducting clinical trials of RU 486, a step necessary to gaining Food and Drug Administration approval. The council is already searching for a drug company to manufacture and distribute the drug in the United States. Despite the controversial nature of the pill, the group has already received calls from interested pharmaceutical firms, says the Population Council's Sandra Waldman.

RU 486 works by blocking the action of progesterone, a hormone required to maintain pregnancy. Women must return to their doctor's office within 48 hours of taking the drug to get a dose of prostaglandin, which triggers the expulsion of the embryo or fetus.

The drug still faces formidable opposition. This week, a coalition of antiabortion groups launched a campaign to keep this drug from being marketed in the United States.