Cancer Patient Gets OK to Use Abortion Pill

A brain cancer patient who told Congress that the banned abortion pill RU-486 might prolong his life has received permission to use the drug, a Food and Drug Administration official said Wednesday.

J. David Grow, who has inoperable meningioma, will get the drug through his physician, who will obtain it from the French manufacturer Roussel-UCLAF, FDA spokesman Gary Fendler said.

“I have no other option for treatment,” Grow testified Tuesday before the House Small Business subcommittee on regulation.

Grow, who lives in Atlanta, said he and his doctor had tried earlier without success to get the company to supply them with the drug.

RU-486 is available for abortion purposes in France and Britain, but is banned in the United States. The FDA does not approve a drug until a company seeks permission to market it and has proven that it is safe and effective.

The government ban made headlines this month when a pregnant woman from California tried to bring RU-486 into the country from Europe for her personal use. The Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision to seize the drug, but a lower court is still considering whether the FDA has exercised its authority properly.

RU-486 supporters testified Tuesday it shows promise as a treatment for brain tumors, endometriosis and depression, as well as breast, ovarian and prostate cancer.

Grow has had several operations for cancerous brain tumors and said he has “about a 75% chance of prolonging my life” by taking RU-486.

Fendler said the agency had not refused Grow permission to obtain the drug, but the snag had been with the manufacturer’s policies.