concern over shortages of abortion pills in France

The Observatory of Transparency in Drug Policies has been warning about shortages for several weeks of misoprostol, used for medical abortions, France Bleu and France Inter report on Tuesday. Abortion pills sometimes not found for health or planning centers, such as in Lille at the beginning of April, or in Ile-de-France, when they are used in 76% of abortions in France.

“There are many shortages of abortion pills in places and sequences”worries the Observatory of Transparency in Medicines Policies in its latest report on misoprostol, “it is unacceptable that such an important drug should be unavailable for even a week”. The search for solutions “diverts the time of caregivers”explains the Observatory “and plunges into anguish those who need quick access”raising fears of a limitation of access to abortion, because of too long delays in obtaining the molecule.

No generics

There are many reasons for this shortage: “Misoprostol is under patent, there are no generics or equivalent products. The monopolies conferred (…) allow their owners, Norgine and Nordic Pharma, to concentrate the production of pills in a very limited number of websites”. However, specifies the Observatory, this concentration of production makes the supply chain vulnerable.

“There must be an immediate response from the government” For “protect the right to abortion”, provides on France Inter Sarah Durocher, president of Family Planning. Socialist Senator Laurence Rossignol seized the Ministry of Health, as she explained in a tweet on April 14. According to the Observatory, the ANSM site announces a date of availability for the end of April, but without guarantees of a return to normal.

Misoprostol is an abortion pill that causes the expulsion of the embryo. It must be taken 36 to 48 hours after another pill, which itself terminates the pregnancy. Misoprostol is also used upstream of non-drug abortions and to accompany miscarriages.