Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the inventor of the abortus pill, has passed away. Baulieu, a French biochemist and endocrinologist (doctor who studies hormones) discovered the agent Ru486, also known as Mifepriston, in the Jar’s 80 of the last century and has since been proudly wore the nickname “Father of the Abortus Pil”. He died in his house in Paris.
In 1980 Baulieu came up with a chemical alternative to the surgical procedure of an abortion. He found that solution in an anti -hormone, a molecule that blocks the receptors of progesterone in the womb, so that the pregnancy hormone does not work. As a result, the fertilized egg cannot innest in the womb. As an abortion, RU486 works in combination with a means that generates contractions (Misoprostol), so that the fruit is repelled.
‘No aggression of surgery’
“My intention was to give women with this pill a choice that protects their privacy and physical integrity and gives them the chance to avoid the aggression of surgery,” Baulieu said in an interview three years ago in an interview The New Yorker. That plan became reality when the means was approved in France in the late 1980s, but soon afterwards a fuss arose from the anti-abortus corner. The pharmaceuticalist who developed the drug, Roussel-Uclaf, removed Ru486 from the market, but under pressure from the French government, the pharmaceutical company then reversed that decision. Not much later the drug was also distributed in other countries.
RU486 is now available in more than a hundred countries, but in many countries strict rules apply to sale. In the Netherlands, Mifepriston has been available not only at abortion clinics since this year, but also at the doctor.
Alzheimer and depression
Baulieu was born in Strasbourg in 1926 as Émile Blum, son of two Jewish parents. He lost his father, also a doctor, when he was a toddler and then moved to Paris with his mother. During the Second World War, Blum changed his name to protect himself and joined the radical communist resistance.
After the war he decided to study medicine “because you can best help people on an individual level”. He started doing his research into hormones to do something about the “pain and abuse” of people who wanted to end their pregnancy. Before Baulieu Ru486 discovered, he did research into DHEA (Dehydro-Epiandrostone, a hormone made by the adrenal glands). Later in his life he picked up the investigation into that hormone, because he was convinced that old age could slow down. In his research at a later age, it matched depression and Alzheimer’s. The life -prolonging characteristics of DHEA are still being investigated, but Baulieu took the medicine himself to his deathbed. “I don’t rule out it works,” he said in an interview.
The widow of Baulieu writes that his work “was dominated by his dedication to the freedom of women and his wish to enable everyone to lead a better and longer life.” The French President Macron also has responded At the death of Baulieu. “Few French people have changed the world in such a way,” said Macron, who calls the researcher “a progullial spirit” who “gave women their freedom.”
Abortus pill as contraception
The abortion pill can be used for more purposes than breaking down a pregnancy. For example, in a different dosage, the agent is also suitable for the treatment of Cushing Syndrome, a condition in which the body produces too much cortisol. In some countries, Mifepriston is also used for treating fibroids (benign nodules in the womb wall), endometriosis (uterus tissue that is outside the uterus) and adenomyosis (uterine glue grows in the muscle wall of the uterus).
Since last month, more than ten Dutch hospitals have been conducting a large study that investigates Mifepriston as a hormone contraceptive. The drug can then be taken weekly in a dosage of 50 milligrams at a time.