FDA: Ignore a pharma company’s deceptive racial equity argument for keeping Makena, an ineffective preterm labor drug

In an effort to sway the Food and Drug Administration not to withdraw accelerated approval of Makena, a drug developed to prevent preterm birth that does no such thing, a pharmaceutical company owned by a private equity company is making the specious argument that the drug should be kept on the market because it may — the emphasis is mine — work in Black people.

Any legitimate effort to reduce preterm birth and other complications of pregnancy and childbirth in the Black community should be applauded and pursued. This isn’t one of them. It is, instead, an outrageous ploy to preserve corporate profits that has a high likelihood of harming Black mothers and babies.

Makena is the current brand name of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate. Originally developed as Delalutin in the 1950s by Bristol Myers Squibb, it is now being marketed and sold by Luxembourg-based Covis Pharma, which is owned by the private equity giant Apollo Global Management.

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