House Passes Buchanan-Backed Bill to Help Terminal Patients

Statement

The U.S. House has approved legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Vern Buchanan to provide terminally ill patients quicker access to experimental drugs.

The Right to Try Act of 2018, which passed the House 267-149 on Wednesday, would allow terminal patients an option to receive drugs that have passed the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) basic safety testing but are still working their way through the often-lengthy bureaucratic process to final approval.

"A patient with a life-threatening disease who wants to take a chance on a promising treatment should be allowed to do so," Buchanan said. "They may not have the time to wait for final FDA approval, which can take years."

The legislation only applies to terminally ill patients and to drugs that have successfully passed the first phase of the FDA's approval process, which ensures that drugs are safe for human use. Similar legislation unanimously passed the Senate in August 2017. Thirty-eight states have passed right-to-try legislation to date and President Trump endorsed the concept in his State of the Union speech last month.

Buchanan noted that it usually takes more than a decade and at least a billion dollars for medications to come to market. Many potentially life-changing medications that are currently stuck in the FDA approval process have already been approved for use in other countries. As a result, oftentimes many patients and their families travel around the world as a last resort to seek treatment.

"Suffering Americans deserve a right to try medications with the potential to save their life," Buchanan said. "They should not be forced to choose between succumbing to their illness or making expensive trips overseas in search of treatments not yet available in the U.S."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hundreds of thousands of Americans travel abroad each year for medical care -- common reasons for travel include cancer care and other surgeries.

Over one million Americans die each year from terminal illness. A Goldwater Institute poll found that 80 percent of Americans support right to try legislation.

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