Abortion pill relieves psychotic depression

02 декабря, 2002
Vithal C Nadkarni 12/01/2002 : According to some feminists, if it weren't for the anti-abortion groups, the drug mifepristone, commonly known as RU486, would be a candidate for the Nobel Prize. The Economic Times via NewsEdge Corporation : Vithal C Nadkarni 12/01/2002 : According to some feminists, if it weren't for the anti-abortion groups, the drug mifepristone, commonly known as RU486, would be a candidate for the Nobel Prize. The story of Viagra for men, on the other hand, is strikingly different. The three scientists whose work led to the use of the wildly popular anti-impotence drug have already won the Nobel Prize. However, not all is lost. Research with mifepristone in recent years has uncovered a plethora of possible health-care benefits-- some for diseases that no other drug can treat. So, Dr Etienne- Emile Baulieu, the French scientist who invented RU486, could possibly end up having the last laugh at his opponents. The abortion pill may have use as an anti-depressant, small-scale study recently carried out by him along with a team from Stanford University in California has shown. Moreover, the US Food & Drug Administration is fasttracking approval for the pill's new avatar, a first for a psychiatric drug in America, after a study in the 'Journal of Biological Psychiatry' concluded that RU486 brought remarkably fast relief to people suffering from acute psychotic depression. Psychotic symptoms affect about 15 per cent of patients suffering from major depression who experience paranoid delusions and hallucinations, such as guilt for imaginary crimes, along with the usual features of depression such as hopelessness and a crippling sense of anxiety. Anti-depressant drugs alone are usually ineffective. Combining anti-depressants with anti- psychotics improves symptoms for only about 60 per cent of patients, according to Stanford researchers. The good news is that electro-convulsive or shock therapy works in roughly 80 per cent of the patients who try it. However, many decline the treatment because of its widespread stigma. In addition, researchers say patients undergoing shock therapy or drug combinations may not see results for weeks or even months after starting treatment. Because of the high risk of suicide involved these cases, experts have long been rooting for quicker-acting alternatives. Against this backdrop, Dr Baulieu told the news agency Agence France Presse that RU486 can save lives. "A week's treatment with the drug helps the patient to overcome the danger and return to normal medication," he added. In a phase-II multi-centric study conducted by Dr Baulieu and his American colleagues, 30 patients received a low, medium or high dose of mifepristone each day for a week, in addition to their standard medicines. More than two-thirds of patients in the medium- and high-dose groups showed significant reductions in psychotic symptoms within seven days, according to the researchers. During the week, more than 40 per cent of the patients in these groups saw their symptoms of their depression reduced by half or better, based on standard clinical measures of the disease. The social implications of the treatment are profound, according to Dr Alan Schatzberg, chairman of Stanford's psychology department, both because mifepristone might eliminate the need for shock treatments and because it comes from a drug with other uses that some people don't like. RU486 was originally developed as a steroid treatment for Cushing's disease, to block the hormone cortisol secreted by the adrenal glands. However, since cortisol receptors and progesterone receptors are structurally related, scientists found that at lower doses, the drug also blocks progesterone, which is required for implanting a fertilised egg in the lining of the uterus. This made it useful as an abortifacient and, in even smaller doses, as an emergency contraceptive. Cortisol, on the other hand, plays a critical role in the body's response to stress. Research in last two decades has revealed that cortisol is extremely elevated in psychotically depressed patients. In these patients, the natural feedback loop involving the stress hormone is thought to be awry, with sustained levels of the chemical leading to symptoms such as hallucinations, sleep disturbances and memory problems. Meanwhile, doctors and researchers have been heartened by other potential uses of mifepristone that have emerged in recent years. These include treatments for uterine fibroids and several types of cancer and even ailments such as Alzheimer's and AIDS. Says Dr Beth Jordon, medical director of the US-based Feminist Majority Foundation, "It's high time that the life-saving potential of mifepristone was released from the shackles of anti-abortion politics", even as the so-called anti-choice organisations continue to mount fresh assaults against the abortion pill. Copyright 2002. All Rights Reserved. Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire <> << Copyright ©2002 Financial Times Limited, All Rights Reserved >>
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