RU 486

or RU-486

noun

1. mifepristone.

RU 486

/ är′yo̅o̅fôr′ā-tē-sĭks′ /

1. An oral drug that terminates early pregnancy by interfering with the action of progesterone, thereby preventing the attachment of a fertilized ovum to the uterine wall.

Word History and Origins

Origin of RU 486¹

First recorded in 1980; designation given the compound by its French manufacturer, Roussel UCLAF, Paris

Example Sentences

When stories started spreading about an effective new abortion drug in France called RU-486 — now known as mifepristone — that would allow women to avoid risky procedures or protester-targeted clinics, Yorkin pressed her feminist colleagues to start asking questions about why the drug wasn’t available in the U.S., said Smeal, who became the foundation’s president.

From Los Angeles Times

The future of medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S., is in limbo after a federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of the drug mifepristone, also known as RU-486, which is used in medication abortions.

From Scientific American

We called it RU-486, after the French company that made the drug, Roussel Uclaf.

From Washington Post

But RU-486 was a big step from the nightmare, a technological advance that could add a sliver of grace to a process that was so often harrowing and stigmatized — the gantlets of protesters outside clinics, the graphic poster boards.

From Washington Post

The agency’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, also known as RU-486, was controversial at the time and came after years of public debate over the drug, which had already been approved and in use in Europe.

From Los Angeles Times