Right to Try Bills Gaining Momentum
Tuesday, June 24, 2014. Colorado and Louisiana are among the first states to sign into law the Right to Try Act, which enables terminally ill patients under the care of a physician to receive drugs that, while having passed basic safety tests conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have not yet been approved.
The Right to Try Act was designed by the Goldwater Institute in an effort to allow terminally ill patients access to safe experimental medicines. The Institute is working with legislators in numerous states to introduce and approve the Act this year. "This is about saving lives," stated Goldwater Institute President and CEO Darcy Olsen. "We will work nationwide until all Americans have the right to try to save their lives."
In Colorado, the bill was spearheaded by state representatives Joann Ginal, PhD and Dr Janak Joshi. Unfortunately for Representative Ginal, the passage of the bill came too late for a close family member with a severe blood disease, who was taken off life support on the day of the bill's signing ceremony at a Northern Colorado hospital. "When people are dying every day and it's taking decades to get innovative treatments into their hands, something needs to be done," Representative Ginal stated. "Cancer doesn't kill Republicans or Democrats, it kills our mothers and sons. Right to Try is a no-brainer."
The Goldwater Institute notes that over a decade and a billion dollars are needed for one life-saving drug to gain approval, and that the FDA approval protocol has not been updated in fifty years. Currently less than 3% of terminally ill patients are able to access these medications via clinical trials. While detractors have voiced the concern that the Right to Try Act may offer patients false hope, on the contrary, the Act gives a chance at life to those with no other options.
In Arizona, the bill is scheduled to go before the state's voters on the November ballot following passage in the state senate. "It's about the option," stated Tucson resident Tracy Canter, whose mother lost her life while a treatment for her disease was still in the clinical trial phase of testing. "Why would you oppose somebody wanting to choose something over just laying down and dying?"
|
