Talk:Mifepristone

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[edit] Was it ever called "the morning-after pill"?

A thesaurus I was using listed "morning-after pill" as a synonym for "RU-486." Obviously, what we now call the morning-after pill isn't RU-486 and doesn't have its abortifacient effects, but, supposedly, many people oppose it because they believe it is or does, respectively. If RU-486 had been known by that term, it may be a cause for the confusion about common emergency contraceptives' effects.

I don't even know where to start looking for an answer to this. OB/GYNs? Planned Parenthood? -Dan 04:07, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image is incorrect

There is a red oxygen in the structure drawn that should have a hydrogen attached to it. That is, it should be depicted as an -OH group, not an -O group. Careless mistake really. Brad219 01:59, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I've uploaded a new, corrected image file of the correct structure. It is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mifepristone_corrected.png but I do not know how to correct the page to show this image. Could somebody please help me out here? Brad219 02:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
New image swapped for old one. Thanks for catching this mistake! -Severa (!!!) 09:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Misoprostol dosage should be in micrograms

Oral misoprostol following mifepristone should be in microgram amounts, not 400 milligrams (mg) as listed under "Approved Uses". Reference can be found at http://www.misoprostol.org/File/dosage_guidelines.pdf. Cpaulsinkhorn 14:43, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Corrected misoprostol dose from mg to µg.
68.255.31.235 15:53, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling of obstetrics

It can also be used as a treatment for obsetric bleeding.

So says the first para. Shouldnt it be "obstetric bleeding" ? 81.105.245.251 06:20, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition to controversy section

An anonymous editor added the following section:

START QUOTE

Christian physicians Dr. Bruce Rusty Lang, M.D., and Dr. Denise K. Turner, M.D., of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine Department of Community Medicine, wrote in October 1991 BioScience that RU-486 is "less safe, and less effective than vacuum asperation abortion." They cited more than a dozen references from previously published international research data demonstrating that the drug was far less effective and less safe than proponents claimed in the media campaign to legalize the drug in the U.S. A 'Viewpoint' editorial had previously appeared in BioScience which included political framing of the issue as a pretext to legalizing the drug, allegedly for, "freedom of scientific inquiry" in the United States. The political debate over RU-486 had obfuscated the issue so that unfavorable reseach data was being ignored to promote it's legalization. RU-486 AND ABORTION POLITICS.http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3568(199110)41%3A9%3C594%3ARAAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

END QUOTE

This seems to me like it is giving undue weight to one paper some years ago, and it needs cleaning up. Thus, I thought I'd bring it to the Talk page for analysis and have removed it from the main article. Bondegezou (talk) 10:12, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

I have removed this once, and I agree that it is giving undue weight to a rather old paper. It may be appropriate to condense this down to a sentence or two, max, but this much isn't helpful, and in fact harmful to NPOV. Can those who want to include the new content please join us here on the talk page and either help us reach a compromise we can all agree upon, or at the very least, try to defend its inclusion and convince us to change our minds. I'm sure we can work together, but edit warring is only disruptive and goes no where in the long run. Thanks.-Andrew c [talk] 04:07, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
I should add that this appears to be a letter to the editor, rather than a peer-reviewed article, from 16 years ago. I'm unable to find it on PubMed, which is odd since BioScience is indexed there and letters often end up on PubMed. Still, it would seem to fall well below the usability horizon, given how much peer-reviewed research is out there. MastCell Talk 19:14, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] MY QUOTATION ABOVE

Comment - The BioScience letter on RU-486 authored by myself and Dr. Denise K. Turner is as germane to the discussion of women's health and public health today as it was when the letter was originally published. It includes 16 references from the internationl literature that should not be overlooked by any serious student of the subject. Both the drug and the reseach data noted are unchanged and valid today. The edited QUOTATION should have been placed in the RU-486 "History" subsection. Please pardon my lack of Wikipedia expertise for misplacing it in the RU-486 "Controvery" subsection. I'm a novice Wikipedia contributor. Any editorial suggestions, questions, or criticisms are appreciated and welcome. Thanks. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 01:53, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] SUGGESTED INCLUSION for Mifepristone History Subsection ALTERNATE EDIT

In 1991 a "Viewpoint" editorial was published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences in BioScience (41: 370) promoting legalization and liberalized importation of RU-486 into the U.S., ostensibly for the sake of "Freedom of Scientific Inquiry." In response, Dr. Bruce Rusty Lang, M.D. of Houston, Texas' Baylor College of Medicine Department of Community Medicine (and Department of Microbiology and Immunology), and Dr. Denise K. Turner, M.D. of Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Community Medicine, co-authored "RU486 and Abortion Politics" BioScience (Oct. 1991, Vol. 41 No.9), which included sixteen previously published references of data from international researchers which emphasize that the drug is less safe and far less effective than suggested by the highly publicised favorable RU-486 efficacy rate promoted in the popular media. The primary focus of Drs. Lang & Turner's exhaustive study of the RU-486 research literature called for awareness that biased political framing of the social debate was conterproductive to women's health concerns and public health in general, and tends to obfuscate the true merits and dangers of the drug. Ultimately Lang & Turner concluded that the previously published international RU-486 research literature has already clearly established that, "RU-486 is less safe, less effective, and more painful than vacuum aspiration abortion." http://jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3568(199110)41%3A9%3C594%3ARAAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

Editing input, suggestions, questions, help, and critique are welcomed. I'll FAX the publication free of charge to anyone interested. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 07:52, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't have access to the article right now (I should later in the week). Was it a narrative review or a systematic review? It seems to me that there are subsequent reviews that warrant as much or more coverage, like Kulier et al. (2004, Cochrane Database). In terms of the wording of the suggest edit, it could be abbreviated by focusing on the conclusions of the paper and giving the citation as a footnote: that would make it less than half the above length. Bondegezou (talk) 10:37, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
It's neither a narrative nor a systematic review - the source being promoted here is a letter to the editor, from 16 years ago, and not particularly appropriate for inclusion here per WP:WEIGHT. MastCell Talk 06:00, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
I've now read the letter. It's 'on topic', but as a 2-page letter from 1991 in response to something else, which cites a number of papers along the way (some of which I think are already cited directly in the article) but does not present any new data and is not a systematic review, I don't see any reason to include it here. There are better, more recent reviews of both the medical evidence and the political debate. Bondegezou (talk) 12:04, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
The BioScience letter being discussed here was, indeed, a systematic review of the international scientific literature on the subject of Mifepristone. The "letter" cited sixteen INTERNATIONAL references (out of well over 100 references reviewed from reputable international publications) containing data which is currently valid and germane to understanding this drug and the U.S. politics related to it today. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 00:29, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
Systematic reviews generally cite well more than 16 references, particularly in a field where much research has been done, and are generally longer than 2 pages. In any case, even if the citation were a comprehensive systematic review from 17 years ago rather than a letter to the editor, it would no longer be presumed to be current or relevant - particularly as a 2004 Cochrane Library systematic review exists. MastCell Talk 00:37, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

This article is written from an American point of view, it lacks international cohesion. Given that the substance was developed in France, seeing 'Uses outside the United States', 'Outside of the United States it is marketted as', and the heading 'Politics and use outside of the United States' is very, very odd. Perhaps we can have a revision of the article to try and write as though Wikipedia is the international entity it is, and not American? Jachin (talk) 21:55, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

  • Comment - I agree completely! A NPOV on this subject would be refreshing, but it does not seem possible. Political framing of this issue in the U.S. has long obfuscated the true merits and dangers of the drug. Mifepriston entries here seem tainted through politically correct censoring and revisions by several U.S. Activist contributors intent upon bolstering their own unscientific personal consensus. It seems to be one of the inherent limitations of this information source. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 02:24, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Good article on RU-486 use

Good article in Washington Post on Ru-486 use that could be incorporated into this article - [1] Remember (talk) 18:10, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Agreed; it references recently released data from Guttmacher (?) showing that the overall number of abortions in the U.S. is declining, while medical abortion is becoming a more common method compared with surgical abortion. While it is quite U.S.-centric, it's probably worthy of inclusion. MastCell Talk 18:16, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

The Guttmacher Institute was founded in 1968 as the "Center for Family Planning Program Development", a semiautonomous division of The Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 02:38, 29 January 2008 (UTC)