WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in an abortion medication case that pharmaceutical companies warn could upend the industry and paralyze new drug development.
Industry players were initially reluctant to weigh in on the fate of mifepristone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 for abortion up to seven weeks of pregnancy. The agency in 2016 extended that approval to 10 weeks and in 2021 removed the in-person dispensing requirement, citing years of data showing the drug’s relative safety. Now, in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s upheaval, both those later changes could be reversed after a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling.
“This is a dagger at the heart of the entire industry,” said Ovid Therapeutics CEO Jeremy Levin, one of hundreds of pharmaceutical executives who have since signed onto amicus briefs and open letters opposing the Fifth Circuit decision. “I would venture to guess that if [the ruling stood], the industry will be thrown into complete disarray.”
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