Drug firms fear abortion pill backlash: MD

From the Toronto Star:
Why is mifepristone, the preferred abortion drug, not available in Canada?

Vancouver physician Ellen Wiebe, who provides medical abortions using less-satisfactory methotrexate, conducted studies with mifepristone more than 10 years ago.

She says, "No drug company has ever applied" to sell it here. The reason is "complex but it's partly because Health Canada is extremely discouraging. We're missing a lot – great contraceptives and other good drugs Europeans and Americans have – because we're not a large market and because fees for registration are very high: $250,000 upfront before anything else happens. That is a barrier."

Also, says Wiebe, major drug companies aren't interested because of the abortion backlash and possible boycotts. Smaller companies "find out what's involved and say, `Not yet, not for us.'" ...more