Overview

• Baulieu died at his Paris home on May 30, aged 98, his wife Simone Harari Baulieu said.
• His development of mifepristone (RU-486) in 1982 provided a safe, low-cost alternative to surgical abortion used by millions of women worldwide.
• He received the Lasker Prize in 1989 and the Grand-Croix de la Légion d’Honneur in 2023 from President Macron.
• Baulieu continued working into his mid-90s on steroid hormone research that led to neurosteroid discoveries and experimental therapies for Alzheimer’s and depression.
• Born Etienne Blum in Strasbourg in 1926, he joined the French Resistance at 15 and later faced criticism and threats from anti-abortion opponents.