Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0277787 (stigma)
 13,352 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

One year after US President Bill Clinton lifted the ban on importation of RU-486, there has been no increase in new research on RU-486 and no increase in the modest amount of RU-486 projects receiving federal support. One theory is that the stigma of RU-486 being an abortifacient carries over to nonabortion related uses. Political and economic pressures within Roussel (the only source of RU-486 and a major supplier of research funds) and its parent firm, Hoechst AG in Berlin, are responsible for the limited research on RU-486. The lack of federal funding on RU-486 may be because many persons perceive RU-486 to be a women's drug and women's diseases receive little federal funding. Nevertheless, some research of RU-486 in nonabortifacient use is occurring. RU-486's ability to interact with progesterone receptors make it a candidate for treating diseases not related to reproductive function. RU-486 also has a strong antiglucocorticoid effect. A Colorado researcher receives funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to examine whether RU-486 can treat breast cancer. A small clinical trial will soon be conducted in California where women with advanced breast cancer will be treated with RU-486. NCI is supporting a Phase III clinical trial of the effects of RU-486 on nonresectable meningiomas (which have many progesterone receptors). A California researcher has conducted several small clinical trials of RU-486's effect on endometriosis and on leiomyoma. The findings so far suggest that RU-486 demonstrates greater improvement with fewer side effects than other drugs. Findings of a clinical trial in Illinois suggest that RU-486 stimulates labor in women with dead fetuses. Some researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development use RU-486 to treat some patients with a subtype of Cushing's syndrome. A clinical trial is examining whether RU-486 can improve memory in Alzheimer's disease patients.
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PMID:RU 486 research forges on, despite political hurdles. 1228 52

Surgical abortion has been provided liberally in Australia since the early 1970s, mainly in privately owned specialist clinics. The introduction of medical abortion, however, was deliberately obstructed and consequently significantly delayed when compared to similar countries. Mifepristone was approved for commercial import only in 2012 and listed as a government subsidised medicine in 2013. Despite optimism from those who seek to improve women's access to abortion, the increased availability of medical abortion has not yet addressed the disadvantage experienced by poor and non-metropolitan women. After telling the story of medical abortion in Australia, this paper considers the context through which it has become available since 2013. It argues that the integration of medical abortion into primary health care, which would locate abortion provision in new settings and expand women's access, has been constrained by the stigma attached to abortion, overly cautious institutionalised frameworks, and the lack of public health responsibility for abortion services. The paper draws on documentary sources and oral history interviews conducted in 2013 and 2015.
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PMID:Medical abortion in Australia: a short history. 2671 8