Ap­peals court tem­porar­i­ly keeps abor­tion pill on the mar­ket, but FDA may have to re­vert to old­er re­stric­tions

The Fifth Cir­cuit Court of Ap­peals late last night said the preterm birth drug mifepri­s­tone should re­main on the mar­ket, at least tem­porar­i­ly, al­though changes made by the FDA in 2016 to mifepri­s­tone’s REMS and lat­er to loosen the re­stric­tions on mail or­ders of the drug may be thrown out in the in­ter­im.

The court made clear that mifepri­s­tone’s ap­proval should not be in ques­tion: “We do not hold that doc­tors have stand­ing to chal­lenge FDA’s ac­tions when­ev­er the doc­tor sees a pa­tient ex­pe­ri­enc­ing com­pli­ca­tions from an FDA-ap­proved drug,” it said.

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