Roussel Uclaf Company

Protests and boycott threats by anti-abortion groups have forced a French drug company to suspend distribution of the world's first abortion pill, only a month after it was approved for use by the French government, the company announced Wednesday. The drug, mifepristone RU-486, had been heralded by family planning and population control organizations as a breakthrough in birth control that allowed women to interrupt unwanted pregnancies without resorting to surgical or suction-method abortions.

Protests and boycott threats by anti-abortion groups have forced a French drug company to suspend distribution of the world's first abortion pill, only a month after it was approved for use by the French government, the company announced Wednesday. The drug, mifepristone RU-486, had been heralded by family planning and population control organizations as a breakthrough in birth control that allowed women to interrupt unwanted pregnancies without resorting to surgical or suction-method abortions.

The controversial French abortion pill will be tested in clinical trials in the United States in about two months, the drug's manufacturer, Roussel-Uclaf, said Wednesday. "The new American Administration has shown interest in testing the pill," said Dr. Andre Ulmann, the firm's director of endocrinology. "They made an official request asking that we respond."

Rhone-Poulenc SA, France's largest pharmaceuticals company, signed an agreement Monday to buy a majority interest in Ft. Washington, Pa.-based Rorer Group and merge its human drug business with Rorer to create one of the world's 10 largest drug companies. Analysts said the two-step transaction--including the issuance of special new rights to all Rorer shareholders--puts a value of $3.2 billion, or $73 a share, on the merger.

A new drug with a Star Wars name, RU 486, or mifeprestone, may help change the world. But the world of the future will look back to thank the French because, sadly, U.S. physicians and scientists in this case were unable to be more than spectators. The reason we are sidelined is that RU 486 can be used to terminate pregnancy. It may also be useful in combatting breast cancer, endometriosis, and Cushing's syndrome and in inducing normal labor at the end of pregnancy.

The world's first "abortion pill" is back on the market in China and France but women in the United States and elsewhere cannot expect to have access to the controversial drug anytime soon--except perhaps on the black market. Fierce opposition from anti-abortionists, the high cost of getting new drugs approved and fears of being sued, experts say, are making pharmaceutical firms reluctant to market the pill and similar agents.