Low-Cost Alternative to RU-486 Abortion Pill Being Studied

Two researchers at UC San Francisco are testing a new, low-cost abortion technique that uses cancer-fighting drugs that appear to terminate pregnancies the same way as the RU-486 abortion pill.

In a study of 10 women who requested abortions, seven had uncomplicated miscarriages after receiving a low dose of the chemotherapy agent methotrexate followed by the artificial hormone misoprostol, which induces uterine contractions, researchers said.

In the small doses needed to induce abortion, the two drugs combined cost $6, compared to the $200 cost of RU-486, if it were to be approved in the United States.

The initial tests, which began in January, were so successful that the method has since been tested on more than 50 women and the university plans to try it on more than 100.

Results of the test by Dr. Mitchell Creinin and Dr. Philip Darney appear in the October issue of the journal Contraception.

Methotrexate, a toxic drug that kills fast-growing cancer cells, destabilizes the uterus lining. Its side effects can include fetal death, birth defects, anemia, diarrhea and damage to lungs, liver and kidneys, although that does not show up with the low doses used for abortions, Creinin said.

Three days after the methotrexate shot, patients are given misoprostol, an artificial version of the hormone prostaglandin, which causes the uterus to expel the lining and fetus.

Neither Lederle Laboratories nor G.D. Searle, maker of the two drugs, knew that their product was used for the trials, Creinin said. Creinin warned women not to try the method on their own because “we can’t say with certainty that this is safe.”