Latest news with #RU-486
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
Étienne-Émile Baulieu, ‘father of the abortion pill,' dies at 98
'I do not like abortion,' Dr. Baulieu wrote in his 1991 book, 'The Abortion Pill,' written with journalist Mort Rosenblum. 'But neither do I believe that women should be deprived of their most fundamental rights.' Dr. Baulieu, who specialized in hormone research at a French government lab, had already by the 1970s made one breakthrough discovery relating to a hormone and certain health risks. He next sought to explore new birth control methods, nearly two decades after the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved for use in the United States in 1960. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Dr. Baulieu narrowed his research to sex hormones, particularly progesterone, which is essential to pregnancy because it prepares the uterus for a newly fertilized egg. Advertisement He knew that the French drug company Roussel-Uclaf — where he was a consultant on drug development — would not invest in a sex-hormone drug linked to birth control. Instead, he nudged the company to support work on a molecular compound to block cortisone, a hormone involved in blood sugar regulation, metabolism, and suppressing inflammation. Advertisement The key for Dr. Baulieu was that cortisone had a chemical structure similar to that of progesterone. Dr. Baulieu suggested that a cortisone-blocking agent, called an anti-glucocorticoid, could be useful for the treatment of burns, wounds, and glaucoma. Privately, he also hoped it would act as an anti-progesterone and prove effective in terminating early pregnancies without the need for surgery. In 1980, Roussel-Uclaf chemist Georges Teutsch synthesized RU-38486, or the 38,486th compound created at the company's labs. The compound — its molecular name shortened to RU-486 — was found to block the function of progesterone and cortisone, as Dr. Baulieu anticipated. He ultimately persuaded the company to pursue human abortion trials. He first, however, had to make the case that RU-486 was safe. Toxicity tests had caused three monkeys to become so ill that they had to be euthanized. Dr. Baulieu argued that the drug was working as it should, but that the monkeys were given doses that were too high. He told the Observer, a British newspaper, that he had 'rescued RU-486 from oblivion.' After clinical trials — first in Switzerland, then in Hungary and Sweden — Roussel-Uclaf received French approval in 1988 to market the drug to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks after a missed menstrual period. RU-486 (whose generic name is mifepristone and which was marketed as mifeprex in the United States) is followed within 48 hours by a drug known as misoprostol to induce uterine contractions. The two drugs are supposed to be prescribed by a physician and can be taken at home without medical supervision. RU-486 was the product of a team effort, but Dr. Baulieu was seen as the drug's key architect and advocate. He became known as 'the father of the abortion pill' and was a reviled target of antiabortion activists and others. Advertisement The Vatican in 1997 denounced RU-486 as 'the pill of Cain: the monster that cynically kills its brothers.' In Canada, a billboard once displayed Dr. Baulieu's picture and the words, 'Wanted for genocide.' In 1988, he was protected by bodyguards during a trip to the United States. But he also said he received messages of thanks from women who were able to end their pregnancies without a surgical procedure. In France, the antiabortion sentiment was so strong that Roussel-Uclaf halted production of the drug soon after it was approved for distribution. Protests raged outside Roussel-Uclaf headquarters in Paris. 'You are turning the uterus into a crematory oven,' demonstrators yelled, alluding to the production of poison gas for Nazi Germany by a predecessor of Hoechst, the holding company that owned Roussel-Uclaf. With drug production on hold, Dr. Baulieu traveled to Brazil for a medical conference that turned into a 'pep rally' for RU-486, the New York Times reported. By the end of the conference, the drug was reinstated by Roussel-Uclaf. Claude Évin, then health minister of France, had declared that RU-486 was 'the moral property of women.' 'Before we left Rio,' Dr. Baulieu wrote in his book, 'we opened the champagne.' The FDA approved mifepristone (pronounced mi-fuh-PRI-stone) in 2000, more than a decade after it became available in China and in Russia and other parts of Europe. (U.S. research into the drug as an abortion medication had been banned, but it was studied as a treatment for hormonal disorders including Cushing's syndrome.) The drug's delay in the United States came from fear of boycotts against Hoechst and a heavily politicized climate around the approval process. Advertisement Since Roe v. Wade and its protection of U.S. abortion rights were overturned in 2022, mifepristone has been at the center of legal questions over whether antiabortion states can block the Postal Service from delivering the drug. Mifepristone is used in more than 60 percent of abortions in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy group focusing on reproductive health. 'Ideology and machismo, alas, weigh more heavily than rationality and scientific proof,' Dr. Baulieu told the New Yorker in 2022. 'A method that makes the termination of pregnancy less physically traumatic for women and less risky to their health has always been rejected by pro-lifers: What they really seek is to harm and punish women.' He often recounted an incident from his medical residency in Paris in the 1950s. A surgeon, scraping the uterus of a woman who had self-administered an abortion, refused to render her unconscious with general anesthesia, remarking that it would 'teach her a lesson she will remember,' he said. As an authority on reproduction, Dr. Baulieu became part of a government committee that helped change French law in 1967 to allow the birth control pill. Later, during a visit to India in 1970, Dr. Baulieu was shaken when a woman begging for money shoved the body of her dead child at him. 'During that trip,' Dr. Baulieu recalled, 'I decided to aim my life's work toward finding some way to ease this sort of suffering.'
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Abortion pill inventor Etienne-Emile Baulieu dies aged 98
Paris: French scientist Etienne-Emile Baulieu , the inventor of the abortion pill , died at the age of 98 at his home in Paris on Friday, his wife told AFP. The doctor and researcher, who achieved worldwide renown for his work that led to the pill, had an eventful life that included fighting in the French resistance and becoming friends with artists such as Andy Warhol. "His research was guided by his commitment to the progress made possible by science, his dedication to women's freedom , and his desire to enable everyone to live better, longer lives," Baulieu's wife Simone Harari Baulieu said in a statement. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to his life, calling him "a beacon of courage" and "a progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom". "Few French people have changed the world to such an extent," he added in a post on X. Baulieu's most famous discovery helped create the oral drug RU-486 , also known as mifepristone , which provided a safe and inexpensive alternative to surgical abortion to millions of women across the world. For decades, he pushed governments to authorise the drug, facing fierce criticism and sometimes threats from opponents of abortion. When Wyoming became the first US state to outlaw the abortion pill in 2023, Baulieu told AFP it was "scandalous". Then aged 96, Baulieu said he had dedicated a large part of his life to "increasing the freedom of women," and such bans were a step in the wrong direction. On news of his death, French Equality Minister Aurore Berge passed on her condolences to Baulieu's family, saying on X he was "guided throughout his life by one requirement: human dignity." - 'Fascinated by artists' - Born on December 12, 1926 in Strasbourg to Jewish parents, Etienne Blum was raised by his feminist mother after his father, a doctor, died. He changed his name to Emile Baulieu when he joined the French resistance against Nazi occupation at the age of 15, then later adding Etienne. After the war, he became a self-described "doctor who does science," specialising in the field of steroid hormones. Invited to work in the United States, Baulieu was noticed in 1961 by Gregory Pincus, known as the father of the contraceptive pill, who convinced him to focus on sex hormones. Back in France, Baulieu designed a way to block the effect of the hormone progesterone, which is essential for the egg to implant in the uterus after fertilisation. This led to the development of mifepristone in 1982. Dragged before the courts and demonised by US anti-abortion groups who accused him of inventing a "death pill", Baulieu refused to back down. "Adversity slides off him like water off a duck's back," Simone Harari Baulieu told AFP. "You, a Jew and a resistance fighter, you were overwhelmed with the most atrocious insults and even compared to Nazi scientists," Macron said as he presented Baulieu with France's top honour in 2023. "But you held on, for the love of freedom and science." In the 1960s, literature fan Baulieu became friends with artists such as Andy Warhol. He said he was "fascinated by artists who claim to have access to the human soul, something that will forever remain beyond the reach of scientists." - Alzheimer's, depression research - Baulieu kept going into his Parisian office well into his mid-90s. "I would be bored if I did not work anymore," he said in 2023. His recent research has included trying to find a way to prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease, as well as a treatment for severe depression, for which clinical trials are currently underway across the world. "There is no reason we cannot find treatments" for both illnesses, he said. Baulieu was also the first to describe how the hormone DHEA secreted from adrenal glands in 1963. He was convinced of the hormone's anti-ageing abilities, but drugs using it only had limited effects, such as in skin-firming creams. In the United States, Baulieu was also awarded the prestigious Lasker prize in 1989. After his wife Yolande Compagnon died, Baulieu married Simone Harari in 2016. He leaves behind three children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, according to the statement released by his family.
Local France
2 days ago
- Politics
- Local France
Abortion pill inventor Etienne-Emile Baulieu dies aged 98
The doctor and researcher, who achieved worldwide renown for his work that led to the pill, had an eventful life that included fighting in the French resistance and becoming friends with artists such as Andy Warhol. "His research was guided by his commitment to the progress made possible by science, his dedication to women's freedom, and his desire to enable everyone to live better, longer lives," Baulieu's wife Simone Harari Baulieu said in a statement. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to his life, calling him "a beacon of courage" and "a progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom". "Few French people have changed the world to such an extent," he added in a post on X. Baulieu's most famous discovery helped create the oral drug RU-486, also known as mifepristone, which provided a safe and inexpensive alternative to surgical abortion to millions of women across the world. For decades, he pushed governments to authorise the drug, facing fierce criticism and sometimes threats from opponents of abortion. When Wyoming became the first US state to outlaw the abortion pill in 2023, Baulieu told AFP it was "scandalous". Then aged 96, Baulieu said he had dedicated a large part of his life to "increasing the freedom of women," and such bans were a step in the wrong direction. On news of his death, French Equality Minister Aurore Berge passed on her condolences to Baulieu's family, saying on X he was "guided throughout his life by one requirement: human dignity." Advertisement 'Fascinated by artists' Born on December 12, 1926 in Strasbourg to Jewish parents, Etienne Blum was raised by his feminist mother after his father, a doctor, died. He changed his name to Emile Baulieu when he joined the French resistance against Nazi occupation at the age of 15, then later adding Etienne. After the war, he became a self-described "doctor who does science," specialising in the field of steroid hormones. Invited to work in the United States, Baulieu was noticed in 1961 by Gregory Pincus, known as the father of the contraceptive pill, who convinced him to focus on sex hormones. Back in France, Baulieu designed a way to block the effect of the hormone progesterone, which is essential for the egg to implant in the uterus after fertilisation. This led to the development of mifepristone in 1982. Dragged before the courts and demonised by US anti-abortion groups who accused him of inventing a "death pill", Baulieu refused to back down. "Adversity slides off him like water off a duck's back," Simone Harari Baulieu told AFP. "You, a Jew and a resistance fighter, you were overwhelmed with the most atrocious insults and even compared to Nazi scientists," Macron said as he presented Baulieu with France's top honour in 2023. "But you held on, for the love of freedom and science." In the 1960s, literature fan Baulieu became friends with artists such as Andy Warhol. He said he was "fascinated by artists who claim to have access to the human soul, something that will forever remain beyond the reach of scientists." Advertisement Alzheimer's, depression research Baulieu kept going into his Parisian office well into his mid-90s. "I would be bored if I did not work anymore," he said in 2023. His recent research has included trying to find a way to prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease, as well as a treatment for severe depression, for which clinical trials are currently underway across the world. "There is no reason we cannot find treatments" for both illnesses, he said. Baulieu was also the first to describe how the hormone DHEA secreted from adrenal glands in 1963. He was convinced of the hormone's anti-ageing abilities, but drugs using it only had limited effects, such as in skin-firming creams. In the United States, Baulieu was also awarded the prestigious Lasker prize in 1989. After his wife Yolande Compagnon died, Baulieu married Simone Harari in 2016. He leaves behind three children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, according to the statement released by his family.
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Business Standard
3 days ago
- Health
- Business Standard
Dr Étienne-Émile Baulieu, French scientist behind abortion pill, dead at 98
Dr Baulieu, the French scientist who developed the abortion pill and spent decades defending women's reproductive rights, has died at 98, leaving behind a legacy of scientific courage Manikant Mishra New Delhi The French scientist who pioneered the abortion pill has passed away at the age of 98. Dr Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the man behind the development of the oral drug RU-486, commonly known as mifepristone, took his last breath at his home in Paris on Friday, his wife confirmed. The pill has given millions of women worldwide a safe, affordable alternative to surgical abortion. He is survived by his wife, Simone Harari Baulieu. "His research was guided by his commitment to progress through science, his dedication to women's freedom, and his desire to enable everyone to live better and longer lives," she said. President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, describing Dr Baulieu as "a beacon of courage" and "a progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom." In a post on X, Macron wrote, "Few French people have changed the world to such an extent." Peu de Français ont à ce point changé le monde. Résistant, génie de la recherche, défenseur de la contraception, inventeur d'une pilule abortive, Étienne-Emile Baulieu fut un esprit de progrès qui permit aux femmes de conquérir leur liberté. Nous perdons un éclaireur de courage. — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 30, 2025 France's gender equality minister, Aurore Berge, also praised him in her post on X, saying he was "guided throughout his life by one requirement: that of human dignity." Dr Baulieu was born Étienne Blum to Jewish parents on 12 December 1926 in Strasbourg. At the age of 15, he changed his name to join the French resistance during the Nazi occupation. After completing his studies, he went to the United States, where he worked with Dr Gregory Pincus, known as the father of the contraceptive pill. Dr Pincus encouraged Dr Baulieu to focus on sex hormones. Returning to France, Dr Baulieu developed a way to block progesterone, a hormone vital for a fertilised egg to implant in the uterus. This breakthrough led to the creation of the abortion pill, which was completed within a decade. Following this achievement, Dr Baulieu fought for years to get governments around the world to approve the drug, refusing to back down even in the face of harsh criticism and threats from anti-abortion groups. When the pill was authorised for sale in 1988, it encountered strong backlash in both Europe and the US, and continues to face resistance in many parts of the world due to cultural and religious sensitivities. Though more than 100 countries have approved mifepristone, its access remains tightly controlled in places like the US. Some anti-abortion activists have more recently described abortion medication as "chemical abortion," claiming it is unsafe despite repeated reassurance from medical experts that the drug is safe to use. Since the FDA approved the pill in 2000, there have been 36 deaths linked to mifepristone, which is roughly 0.65 deaths per 100,000 medication abortions. In contrast, regular aspirin use is linked to about 15.3 deaths per 100,000 users. After a long battle, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2010 finally listed mifepristone as an essential medicine. When Wyoming became the first US state to ban the abortion pill in 2023, Dr Baulieu remarked that he had devoted much of his life to expanding "the freedom of women," and said such bans were a step backwards. More recently, he had been working on treatments to prevent Alzheimer's disease and severe depression. In 2023, President Macron awarded Dr Baulieu the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour for his humanitarian achievements in his field. At the ceremony, Macron said: "You, a Jew and a member of the resistance, were heaped with the most atrocious insults and compared to Nazi scientists.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
French scientist behind abortion pill dies aged 98
The French scientist who created the abortion pill has died at the age of 98. Étienne-Émile Baulieu helped develop the oral drug RU-486, also known as mifepristone, which has provided millions of women across the world with a safe and inexpensive alternative to a surgical abortion. Dr Baulieu died at his home in Paris on Friday, his widow confirmed in a statement. Simone Harari Baulieu said: "His research was guided by his commitment to progress through science, his dedication to women's freedom and his desire to enable everyone to live better and longer lives." French President Emmanuel Macron called Dr Baulieu "a beacon of courage" and "a progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom". "Few French people have changed the world to such an extent," he added in a post on X. Aurore Bergé, France's gender equality minister, said Dr Baulieu "was guided throughout his life by one requirement: that of human dignity" in a post on X. Dr Baulieu was born Étienne Blum on 12 December 1926 in Strasbourg. He changed his name to join the French resistance against the Nazi occupation when he was 15. Following his graduation, he travelled to the United States where he worked with the man known as the father of the contraceptive pill, Dr Gregory Pincus. Dr Pincus advised him on focusing on sex hormones. Back in France, Dr Baulieu designed a method to block the effect of the hormone progesterone – which is essential for the egg to implant in the uterus following fertilisation. While the abortion pill was developed within 10 years, Dr Baulieu spent decades pushing international governments to authorise the drug despite facing fierce criticism and sometimes threats from opponents of abortion. The World Health Organisation (WHO) added it to its list of essential medication only in 2010. Presenting him with the Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur in 2023, Macron said: "You, a Jew and a member of the resistance, were heaped with the most atrocious insults and compared to Nazi scientists. "But you held firm, out of love for freedom and science." Upon Wyoming becoming the first US state to ban the abortion pill in 2023, Dr Baulieu noted he had spent a large part of his life trying to increase "the freedom of women", adding such bans were a step in the wrong direction. His recent research included trying to find a way to prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease, as well as a treatment for severe depression. New York county clerk blocks Texas abortion telehealth suit Women seeking abortions after using 'natural' contraception
