FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MICHIGAN MOVES CLOSER TO ENACTING ‘RIGHT TO TRY’ EXPERIMENTAL MEDICATION LAW

(9/16/2014) “When family members are ill, we often want to do whatever we can for them. The Right to Try package will give a glimmer of hope for terminally ill patients by allowing them to have access to experimental medications.” said Rep. Gail Haines (R-MI), chair of the House Health Policy Committee. “When time isn’t on your side in an illness, we need efficiency and opportunities. Our Right to Try Package does that while still protecting consumers, manufacturers, and providers.”

Designed by the Goldwater Institute, the Right to Try Act enables terminally ill patients under the care of their physician and cooperating pharmaceutical companies to receive medicines that have passed the basic safety testing phase of the FDA’s approval process, but may still be years away from market approval.

Under the current FDA system, it takes over a decade to bring a single life-saving treatment to market.  For many terminally ill patients these experimental medications are their only hope. Sadly, gaining access to such medications can prove nearly impossible.

“This is about saving lives; Right To Try gives hope to those who no longer have it,” said Darcy Olsen, President and CEO of the Goldwater Institute. “We will continue to work throughout the country to ensure all Americans have the right to try and save their own lives.”

The Goldwater Institute is working with lawmakers in additional states to pass Right to Try laws across the country in 2015.
 

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