The who’s who (and who not to trust) behind an abortion pill reversal study

UPDATE, 8/15/19: In August, sponsors of this study changed the status of the clinical trial to “suspended (safety).” Live Action News inquired about the change to the FDA, which responded by e-mail, stating, “The FDA generally cannot confirm or deny the existence of or comment on any pending investigational new drug (IND) applications. For this type of information, we suggest you contact the sponsor.” No additional information from the sponsor has been published at this time.

3/31/19: Abortion pill collaborators pushing for online, pharmacy, and mail order access to the pill are conducting a study to “test” the science behind abortion pill reversal. The problem is, those conducting this study have deep ties to the abortion industry and to those who stand to gain financially from sales of the abortion pill.

The clinical trial, published under the name, “Blocking Mifepristone Action With Progesterone,” is sponsored by the University of California – Davis and the Society of Family Planning — both with strong ties to abortion. The study’s principal investigator is Mitchell D. Creinin, MD, who previously participated in initial clinical trials of the pill, RU486.

The study is already recruiting pregnant participants who will take the abortion pill at either the University of California, Davis or Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. Pregnant participants, who have received counseling and signed informed consent for surgical abortion, will each receive the first pill (mifepristone or Mifeprex) in the approved regimen. The pregnant participants will then either receive progesterone treatments to try to save their preborn children… or they’ll receive a placebo. They won’t know which.

While this study raises important moral questions, the goal of this particular article is to show how this study could be severely skewed, considering the fact that those leading the study and those invested in the abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO, are strongly linked.

So, who’s funding this and other studies on the abortion pill, as well as the abortion pill’s manufacturer? And should we trust these researchers to conduct any sort of unbiased study? Let’s take a look at the evidence and decide:

The Packard Foundation 

• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a primary investor in DANCO, seeding the pill’s manufacturer with millions of dollars as it transitioned from the Population Council to DANCO Laboratories, LLC.
• Packard’s investment in DANCO included a $14 million loan as early as 1996 to bring the drug to US.
• Packard’s 990s for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 show ongoing support for DANCO.
• Packard’s website states it seeks “to promote women’s reproductive health and rights and to stabilize population growth.”
• Packard is substantial donor to Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Federation, NARAL and others.
• Packard funded studies (in Journal Contraception) that claim self-managed abortion is safe, and urging the undoing of the current FDA standards restricting dispensation of the abortion pill (known as REMS).
• Packard funded a study promoting the University of California’s ability dispense abortion pills on campus.

 

University of California (UC)

• Packard has funded UC for years, including regular grant dollars to UC.
• The Buffett Foundation, another original investor in DANCO, funded UC.
• Buffett gave at least $2 million in interest-free loans to the Population Council for clinical trials of RU-486, according to tax documents filed in 1995.
• Buffett gave $78 million to UC in past years: $52 million for the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program; $5.3 million so that UC’s Davis, UCLA, San Diego and Irvine residents could participate in Ryan; and $8.6 million towards the pro-abortion Turnaway Study at UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health Center (ANSIRH).

A publication in which UC honored “abortion pioneers” reveals its long history of abortion promotion:

• 1991: UCSF founded the Fellowship in Family Planning to provide the opportunity for research and clinical skills in family planning and abortion. Mitchell Creinin is Director and a Family Planning Fellow.
• 1992: Creinin along with Philip Darney, MD (a professor at UCSF’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health), undertook studies using methotrexate and misoprostol which led to the abortion pill regimen. According to a ten-year report, Packard donated millions to the Bixby Center.
• 1994: UCSF participated in clinical trials of RU-486.
• 1999: The Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning was founded by Uta Landy for training abortion providers.

University of California – Davis (UCD) 

• Packard funds UC Davis and has for years.
• UCD provides abortions at Division of Family Planning.
• UCD is the location site for this study as well as a clinical trial on pharmacy dispension of abortion pill, conducted by abortionist Daniel Grossman.

Society of Family Planning (SFP)

• SFP, the collaborator for the study, began with generous contribution from Packard, according to Creinin and president Philip Darney.
• SFP, whose mission supports research on abortion, is also funding this study, granting UC Davis $401,764.
• SFP founding member Mark Nichols, MD, was the “local principal investigator in the initial Population Council trial investigating mifepristone for first trimester abortion leading to FDA approval.”
• SFP funds the Guttmacher Institute, a former “special affiliate” of Planned Parenthood which promotes self-managed abortion.

Mitchell D. Creinin, MD

• Principal Investigator of the study
• Professor at University of California, Davis – the study’s sponsor
• Consultant for abortion pill manufacturer, receiving consulting fees and an honorarium from DANCO
• Provided “third-party telephone consults,” for DANCO
• Founding member of SFP and deputy editor of SFP’s official journal–Contraception, which publishes Packard-funded reports promoting self-managed abortion
• Principal Investigator (PI) in another clinical trial by abortionist/researcher Daniel Grossman (professor at University of California, San Francisco) on pharmacy dispension of abortion pill
• Creinin is an abortionist who was involved in clinical trials of RU-486 at Magee-Women’s Hospital Dept. of OB/GYN Pittsburgh, PA.
• Previous medical and lab director of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, as described by Oxford University Press
• Worked on an abortion training publication for the National Abortion Federation (NAF)
• Board of Directors for Association for Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)
• Listed among advisory counsel for early abortion training guide published by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), part of UCSF’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
• In 2002, Creinin was sent a corrections letter by the FDA for another study, where he was cited for:
  

  •Failure to ensure that the requirements for obtaining and documenting informed consent were met
  •Failure to conduct the study in accordance with the investigational plan
  •Failure to maintain complete, accurate, and current records relating to the investigation

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) 

• Site location for this study
• Packard issued millions of dollars in grants to PPMM.
• Packard’s 2008,  2011, 2017, and 2018 990s list PPMM under “grants/contributions” or “other assets.”

The abortion pill has claimed the lives of at least 22 women and well over three million preborn children.

“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!