Advertisement
Research Article| Volume 104, ISSUE 1, P29-30, July 2021

The burden of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) on providers and patients experiencing early pregnancy loss: A commentary

  • Author Footnotes
    1 Contributed equally to the development of this commentary.
    Anne N. Flynn
    Correspondence
    Corresponding author.
    Footnotes
    1 Contributed equally to the development of this commentary.
    Affiliations
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
    Search for articles by this author
  • Author Footnotes
    1 Contributed equally to the development of this commentary.
    Jade M. Shorter
    Footnotes
    1 Contributed equally to the development of this commentary.
    Affiliations
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305 United States
    Search for articles by this author
  • Andrea H. Roe
    Affiliations
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
    Search for articles by this author
  • Sarita Sonalkar
    Affiliations
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
    Search for articles by this author
  • Courtney A. Schreiber
    Affiliations
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
    Search for articles by this author
  • Author Footnotes
    1 Contributed equally to the development of this commentary.
      Early pregnancy loss (EPL) is a common complication in pregnancy and affects approximately 1 million women in the United States every year [
      • Warburton D.
      • Fraser F.C.
      Spontaneous abortion risks in man: data from reproductive histories collected in a medical genetics unit.
      ,
      • Ventura S.J.
      • Curtin S.C.
      • Abma J.C.
      • Henshaw S.K.
      Estimated pregnancy rates and rates of pregnancy outcomes for the United States, 1990-2008.
      ]. Patient-centered care includes expectant, medical and procedural treatment options. Medical management offers an expedient and active treatment course that is less invasive and more private than uterine aspiration [
      • Zhang J.
      • Gilles J.M.
      • Barnhart K.
      • Creinin M.D.
      • Westhoff C.
      • Frederick M.M.
      A comparison of medical management with misoprostol and surgical management for early pregnancy failure.
      ,
      • Robledo C.
      • Zhang J.
      • Troendle J.
      • Barnhart K.
      • Creinin M.D.
      • Westhoff C.
      Clinical indicators for success of misoprostol treatment after early pregnancy failure.
      ,
      • Schreiber C.A.
      • Creinin M.D.
      • Reeves M.F.
      • Harwood B.J.
      Mifepristone and misoprostol for the treatment of early pregnancy failure: a pilot clinical trial.
      ,
      • Kollitz K.M.
      • Meyn L.A.
      • Lohr P.A.
      • Creinin M.D.
      Mifepristone and misoprostol for early pregnancy failure: a cohort analysis.
      ,
      • Schreiber C.A.
      • Chavez V.
      • Whittaker P.G.
      • Ratcliffe S.J.
      • Easley E.
      • Barg F.K.
      Treatment decisions at the time of miscarriage diagnosis.
      ], and misoprostol alone has traditionally been used for medical management of EPL. However, treatment efficacy is substantially improved when mifepristone is used as a pretreatment to misoprostol [
      ACOG
      Practice Bulletin No. 200 summary: early pregnancy loss.
      ,
      • Lemmers M.
      • Verschoor M.A.
      • Kim B.V.
      • Hickey M.
      • Vasquez J.C.
      • Mol B.W.J
      • et al.
      Medical treatment for early fetal death (less than 24 weeks).
      ,
      • Wattar B.H.A.
      • Murugesu N.
      • Tobias A.
      • Zamora J.
      • Khan K.S.
      Management of first-trimester miscarriage: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
      ,
      • Chu J.J.
      • Devall A.J.
      • Beeson L.E.
      • Hardy P.
      • Cheed V.
      • Sun Y.
      • et al.
      Mifepristone and misoprostol versus misoprostol alone for the management of missed miscarriage (MifeMiso): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
      ,
      • Schreiber C.A.
      • Creinin M.D.
      • Atrio J.
      • Sonalkar S.
      • Ratcliffe S.J.
      • Barnhart K.T.
      Mifepristone pretreatment for the medical management of early pregnancy loss.
      ]. Additionally, cost-effectiveness analyses demonstrate that the combination regimen has economic benefits for both patients and the health care sector [
      • Nagendra D.
      • Koelper N.
      • Loza-Avalos S.E.
      • Sonalkar S.
      • Chen M.
      • Atrio J.
      • et al.
      Cost-effectiveness of mifepristone pretreatment for the medical management of nonviable early pregnancy: secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial.
      ,
      • Berkley H.H.
      • Greene H.L.
      • Wittenberger M.D.
      Mifepristone combination therapy compared with misoprostol monotherapy for the management of miscarriage: a cost-effectiveness analysis.
      ]. Based on these pivotal studies and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommendations, the combined mifepristone-misoprostol regimen has become the standard of care for medical management of EPL [
      ACOG
      Practice Bulletin No. 200 summary: early pregnancy loss.
      ].

      Keywords

      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to Contraception
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

        • Warburton D.
        • Fraser F.C.
        Spontaneous abortion risks in man: data from reproductive histories collected in a medical genetics unit.
        Am J Hum Genet. 1964; 16: 1-25
        • Ventura S.J.
        • Curtin S.C.
        • Abma J.C.
        • Henshaw S.K.
        Estimated pregnancy rates and rates of pregnancy outcomes for the United States, 1990-2008.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2012; 60: 1-21
        • Zhang J.
        • Gilles J.M.
        • Barnhart K.
        • Creinin M.D.
        • Westhoff C.
        • Frederick M.M.
        A comparison of medical management with misoprostol and surgical management for early pregnancy failure.
        N Engl J Med. 2005; 353: 761-769
        • Robledo C.
        • Zhang J.
        • Troendle J.
        • Barnhart K.
        • Creinin M.D.
        • Westhoff C.
        Clinical indicators for success of misoprostol treatment after early pregnancy failure.
        Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2007; 99: 46-51
        • Schreiber C.A.
        • Creinin M.D.
        • Reeves M.F.
        • Harwood B.J.
        Mifepristone and misoprostol for the treatment of early pregnancy failure: a pilot clinical trial.
        Contraception. 2006; 74: 458-462
        • Kollitz K.M.
        • Meyn L.A.
        • Lohr P.A.
        • Creinin M.D.
        Mifepristone and misoprostol for early pregnancy failure: a cohort analysis.
        Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011; 204 (p. 386 e1-386 e6)
        • Schreiber C.A.
        • Chavez V.
        • Whittaker P.G.
        • Ratcliffe S.J.
        • Easley E.
        • Barg F.K.
        Treatment decisions at the time of miscarriage diagnosis.
        Obstet Gynecol. 2016; 128: 1347-1356
        • ACOG
        Practice Bulletin No. 200 summary: early pregnancy loss.
        Obstet Gynecol. 2018; 132: 1311-1313
        • Lemmers M.
        • Verschoor M.A.
        • Kim B.V.
        • Hickey M.
        • Vasquez J.C.
        • Mol B.W.J
        • et al.
        Medical treatment for early fetal death (less than 24 weeks).
        Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019; 6CD002253
        • Wattar B.H.A.
        • Murugesu N.
        • Tobias A.
        • Zamora J.
        • Khan K.S.
        Management of first-trimester miscarriage: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
        Hum Reprod Update. 2019; 25: 362-374
        • Chu J.J.
        • Devall A.J.
        • Beeson L.E.
        • Hardy P.
        • Cheed V.
        • Sun Y.
        • et al.
        Mifepristone and misoprostol versus misoprostol alone for the management of missed miscarriage (MifeMiso): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
        Lancet. 2020; 396: 770-778
        • Schreiber C.A.
        • Creinin M.D.
        • Atrio J.
        • Sonalkar S.
        • Ratcliffe S.J.
        • Barnhart K.T.
        Mifepristone pretreatment for the medical management of early pregnancy loss.
        N Engl J Med. 2018; 378: 2161-2170
        • Nagendra D.
        • Koelper N.
        • Loza-Avalos S.E.
        • Sonalkar S.
        • Chen M.
        • Atrio J.
        • et al.
        Cost-effectiveness of mifepristone pretreatment for the medical management of nonviable early pregnancy: secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial.
        JAMA Netw Open. 2020; 3e201594
        • Berkley H.H.
        • Greene H.L.
        • Wittenberger M.D.
        Mifepristone combination therapy compared with misoprostol monotherapy for the management of miscarriage: a cost-effectiveness analysis.
        Obstet Gynecol. 2020; 136: 774-781
        • Guilbert E.
        • Wagner M.
        • Munro S.
        • Wilcox E.S.
        • Dunn S.
        • Soon J.A.
        • et al.
        Slow implementation of mifepristone medical termination of pregnancy in Quebec, Canada: a qualitative investigation.
        Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2020; 25: 190-198
        • Contopoulos-Ioannidis D.G.
        • Alexiou G.A.
        • Gouvias T.C.
        • Ioannidis J.P.A.
        Life cycle of translational research for medical interventions.
        Medicine. 2008; 321 (Science): 1298-1299
        • Henney J.E.
        • Gayle H.D.
        Time to reevaluate U.S. mifepristone restrictions.
        N Engl J Med. 2019; 381: 597-598
        • Cleland K.
        • Smith N.
        Aligning mifepristone regulation with evidence: driving policy change using 15 years of excellent safety data.
        Contraception. 2015; 92: 179-181
      1. ACOG. Improving access to mifepristone for reproductive health indications. 2018; Posiiton Statement].

        • Wittels K.A.
        • Pelletier A.J.
        • Brown D.F.M.
        • Camargo Jr., C.A.
        United States emergency department visits for vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy, 1993-2003.
        Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008; 198 (p. 523 e1-6)
        • Miller C.A.
        • Roe A.H.
        • Meisel Z.F.
        • Koelper N.
        • Schreiber C.A.
        Patient experiences with miscarriage management in the emergency and ambulatory settings.
        Obstet Gynecol. 2019; 134: 1285-1292
        • Sze S.
        • Pan D.
        • Nevill C.R.
        • Gray L.J.
        • Martin C.A.
        • Nazareth J.
        • et al.
        Ethnicity and clinical outcomes in COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
        EClinicalMedicine. 2020; 29100630
        • Rentsch C.T.
        • Kidwai-Khan F.
        • Tate J.P.
        • Park L.S.
        • King Jr., J.T.
        • Skanderson M.
        • et al.
        Patterns of COVID-19 testing and mortality by race and ethnicity among United States veterans: a nationwide cohort study.
        PLoS Med. 2020; 17e1003379
      2. FDA, Guidance for Industry and Health Care Professionals: Policy for Certain REMS requirements during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. https://www.fda.gov/media/136317/download.

      3. ACLU, Federal court blocks FDA restsriction that unnecessarily imposes COVID-19 risks on patients seeking abortion care 2020: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-blocks-fda-restriction-unnecessarily-imposes-covid-19-risks-patients#:~:text=The%20court%20issued%20a%20preliminary,as%20part%20of%20miscarriage%20treatment.

        • Liptak A.
        Supreme Court Revives Abortion-Pill Restriction.
        The New York Times, 2021
      4. Belluck, P., F.D.A. Will Allow Abortion Pills by Mail During the Pandemic, in The New York Times. 2021.

      5. Berry, C.R. The dividing line between the role of the FDA and the practice of medicine: a historical review and current analysis. 1997. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8846812