Mifepristone was approved with what AMWA has determined to be appropriate risk management restrictions. AMWA President Catherine A. Henry immediately hailed the announcement of FDA approval as a "major victory for all women." She said, "I applaud the FDA for expanding physicians' options so that they may better serve their patients and attend to their total reproductive health needs."

The FDA's approval of mifepristone also clears a path for long-stalled trials of mifepristone's other possible beneficial applications in treating uterine fibroid tumors, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, and meningioma (brain tumors). Dr. Henry adds, "since the early 1980's, clinicians and women in the United States have been waiting to see the potential roles of this new drug class realized -- and today we are one step closer."

AMWA encourages all physicians to learn more about mifepristone in the special supplemental edition on medical abortion of the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association (JAMWA), which features articles including, "Improving Early Options for Abortion: It's Time to Stop Waiting," "Mode of Action of Medical Methods of Abortion," and "Opening the Door to Safe Abortion: International Perspectives on Medical Abortifacient Use." For more information, or to request a copy of JAMWA's medical abortion supplement, call Melisa Marin, Director of Governmental Affairs and Communications at 703-838-0500.

Founded in 1915, the American Medical Women's Association -- a national medical society of 10,000 women physicians and medical students -- is dedicated to promoting women's health and furthering the professional development and well-being of women in medicine.

SOURCE: American Medical Women's Association

WEB SITE: http://www.amwa-doc.org/

CO: American Medical Women's Association; U.S. Food and Drug Administration