President Trump Signs ‘Right to Try’ Bill, Which Allows Terminally ill Patients to Try Experimental Treatment

By Nancy Flory Published on May 30, 2018

President Trump signed into law Wednesday a bill that will allow terminally ill patients to seek experimental treatments not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Trump said the new law will save a “tremendous number of lives.”

The Right to Try

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sponsored the “Right to Try” bill. It passed the Senate unanimously in August 2017. Last week it passed the House along party lines at 250-169.

Trump said at Wednesday’s signing:

As I proudly sign this bill, thousands of terminally ill Americans will have the help, the hope and the fighting chance — and I think it’s going to be better than chance — that they will be cured, that they will be helped, that they will be able to be with their families for a long time, or maybe just for a longer time. But we’re able to give them the absolute best we have at this current moment, at this current second. We’re going to help a lot of people. It’s an honor to be signing this.

The bill is a “bill for the people,” the president said. “Not the pharmaceutical companies, not the insurance companies — I don’t care about them. I really couldn’t care less.”

He argued that patients with terminal illnesses should have access to experimental drugs that could potentially save their lives. “It’s time for the Congress to give these wonderful Americans the ‘right to try.’”

Experimental Treatments

The law allows patients who have tried other treatments to seek unapproved experimental treatments. The unapproved treatments must have been tested on humans and must be under continual evaluation.

In a statement to Fox News, Johnson thanked those who worked on the bill. “Today’s Right to Try bill signing was a moment of deserved celebration for everyone who fought to return a little freedom and restore hope to terminally ill patients and their families.”

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 Democrats have been generally unsupportive, saying the law will give terminally ill patients “false hope” and put them at risk.

But an organization called Right to Try said sometimes patients can’t wait for FDA approval. The FDA’s process for approving new drugs can take up to 15 years, their website says. “This is far too long for dying patients to wait. Right to Try gives life-saving hope back to those who’ve lost it.”

Forty states already have “Right to Try” laws on the books. Those that do not are Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Kansas, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

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