New birth control drug?

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 6

New birth control drug?

NZPA-Reuter Boston An experimental drug that causes newly-fertilised eggs to be washed out of a woman’s womb may be a safe and effective birth control pill that can be taken once a month, medical researchers reported. The drug, known as RU 486, blocks the activity of the female hormone progesterone, which preserves the lining of the uterus nourishing an embryo.

In a series of tests on women and monkeys, reported in the “New England Journal of Medicine,” the researchers found that a single <s>se of RU 486 consistently

forced menstruation in all eight women tested and prevented pregnancies in all the monkeys. When the female monkeys received a placebo, the pregnancy rate was 28 per cent. The researchers said they saw no side effects from the drug. In December a different team of researchers reported that the same drug was able to produce abortions in 85 per cent of the pregnant women who received it. The researchers in the latest study said that although not yet approved for widespread use by humans, the drug had the potential for replacing

various contraceptives, including hormone pills which must be taken daily, intra-uterine devices which can cause infertility, and barrier contraceptives which are not always reliable. It also has the potential for letting a newly-preg-nant woman get an abortion by simply seeing her doctor and receiving a prescription, they said. In the United States the drug is expected to spark opposition from anti-abor-tion groups because it causes the chemical abortion of a fertilised egg. In the study, led by Dr Lynnette Nieman of the National Institute of Child Health and Human De-

velopment, preliminary results suggest that RU 486 “holds promise as a safe and effective form of fertility control that can be administered once a month.” This approach, the researchers concluded, “should be free of many of the shortcomings and untoward effects associated with currently available contraceptives.” But they emphasised that more research is needed to make sure the drug is safe when it is given over a long period and to discover the best dosage.

The RU 486 used in the testM was provided ! by Rousei-UCLAF of Paris.