Van de Kamp Requests Tests of Abortion Pill : Medicine: Attorney general asks state health department to oversee study of drug, which is not approved in U.S. But there is no guarantee that the manufacturer will supply it.

California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp called on the state health department Wednesday to allow testing of the abortion pill RU 486 by researchers or drug companies interested in distributing the drug within the state.

Van de Kamp, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, called for testing of RU 486 under a 2-year-old program in which the health department has been overseeing the testing of experimental AIDS drugs without the usual federal approval.

But there is no guarantee that the drug’s manufacturer, the French firm Roussel Uclaf, will supply it, Van de Kamp acknowledged at a news conference in Los Angeles. Faced with the threat of a boycott by abortion opponents, drug companies have been unwilling so far to introduce RU 486 in the United States.

“We have no guarantees, we have no definite assurances,” Van de Kamp said, referring to his communications with the manufacturer, conducted through an intermediary. He said the company had offered only “an expression of real interest.”

Reaction to the announcement ranged from praise to charges of political opportunism.

Several researchers interested in seeing the drug tested and perhaps approved for distribution in the United States called Van de Kamp’s move an encouraging step that might prod not only the manufacturer but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Advocates of the right to abortion called it “smart politics” and good news for American women. Dianne Feinstein, Van de Kamp’s opponent for the Democratic nomination, suggested that the attorney general was “trying to one-up me with the female vote.”

An opponent of abortion criticized the plan. “I see it as a desperate political maneuver to out-pro-abort two other pro-abortion candidates for governor,” said Jan Carroll of National Right to Life, referring to Feinstein and Republican Pete Wilson. “But mainly I feel it’s . . . an attempt to use the women of California as guinea pigs.”

Feinstein leads Van de Kamp among women voters by more than 2 to 1, according to a recent Los Angeles Times Poll. She is the first serious woman candidate for governor in California history, and women make up 60% of the vote in the California Democratic primary.

Although Van de Kamp, who is Catholic, is personally opposed to abortion, he has sought for more than a year to present himself as the strongest proponent of the right to abortion in the governor’s race. On Wednesday, he denied that his proposal was political.

“This has nothing to do with running for governor,” he said. “When you run for governor, you do not stop engaging in public policy.”

At a news conference, Van de Kamp announced that he was sending a letter to Dr. Kenneth Kizer, director of the Department of Health Services, urging him to use the state’s so-called mini-FDA to encourage and expedite testing of RU 486.

The department’s drug bureau received funding in 1987 to approve and oversee testing of experimental AIDS drugs. By law, it can approve AIDS drugs for sale in California, but they must be manufactured and distributed solely in the state.

Van de Kamp urged Kizer “to use the same statutory process for the testing of RU 486, in the event that any qualified investigator or California company applies, and to . . . announce that the state will expedite the review process to the maximum extent medically appropriate.”

Kizer declined to comment, saying he needed time to study the letter.

Dr. Marcus A. Conant, a professor at UC San Francisco, is working with other physicians preparing a proposal to submit to the health department under Van de Kamp’s plan. Conant said Van de Kamp’s step is important in setting in motion a process that could lead to distribution of the drug.

Conant said his group intends within two months to submit to the state a proposal to test RU 486 in California. The study would compare the reliability and side effects of RU 486 to those of surgical abortion in approximately 200 women, he said.

Conant expressed optimism that the study would be approved. The study could lead eventually to approval of the drug. Physicians could then appeal to the manufacturer for supplies, or to the World Health Organization, which also may distribute the drug.

“If you can get the process moving, and begin a public discussion, and empower people (as to) what they can and can’t do, the system seems to move along,” said Conant, who is also co-chairman of the California AIDS Leadership Committee.

But E. C. Norton, manager of communications for Hoechst Celanese Corp. in New Jersey, a sister company of Roussel Uclaf, said he knew of no plans by the companies to introduce the drug in the United States and no requests by other firms for license to do so.

The abortion pill, which can be taken up to five weeks after conception, is viewed as a revolutionary step in fertility control. It promises a safer, easier and more private abortion than the traditional surgical approach, advocates as well as critics acknowledge.

Last week, researchers released the results of the largest study of the drug to date. The study reported a 96% success rate among 2,115 women in France who were given the drug. The side effects, such as pain and bleeding, were no worse than in conventional abortions.

Also last week, delegates to the California Medical Assn.’s annual meeting voted unanimously to approve medical use of the pill. The association agreed to urge the American Medical Assn. at its upcoming annual meeting to voice its support for the pill.

Times staff writer Keith Love contributed to this article.

BACKGROUND

RU 486, the revolutionary abortion pill developed in France, has been shown to be 96% effective when taken early in pregnancy. It is available in France and China, and is being considered for marketing in Great Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. But neither its French manufacturer, Roussel Uclaf, nor any other pharmaceutical firm has applied for permission to market RU 486 in the United States. Their reluctance has been traced largely to fear of a boycott of their products by opponents of abortion.