Mifepristone in Italy: the case of a drug trapped between ethics and clinical practice.
In Italy mifepristone is not yet marketed. Gynaecologists in our hospital asked to use this medication as a less traumatic method for voluntary abortions. We followed the standard procedure defined by the Italian Health Ministry (IMH) for purchasing drugs from abroad but encountered several unexpected barriers. Starting from this case, this paper is aimed at identifying these barriers which we found to be not only professional, but also ethical, religious and moral.
Banfi
Roberto
R
Pharmacy Department, Azienda USL11 Empoli, 50053 Tuscany, Italy. r.banfi@usl11.toscana.it
Pavone
Eleonora
E
Cerri
Rita
R
Menichetti
Monica
M
D000021:Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal; D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital; D017277:Drug Approval / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D015735:Mifepristone; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011247:Pregnancy; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012936:Social Medicine / Q000639:trends
D000021:Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital; D015735:Mifepristone