Springfield, Ill.—A law to give terminally ill patients access to medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process but are not yet on pharmacy shelves has passed the state House and Senate with bipartisan, near unanimous support. Governor Bruce Rauner has 60 days to sign or veto the bill once it reaches his desk.
House Bill 1335, the Right To Try Act, was sponsored by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Harris, a Democrat representing Chicago, and Sen. Michael Connelly, a Republican representing Wheaton. Right To Try allows doctors to prescribe to terminally ill patients medicines being used in clinical trials.
Right To Try laws are already in place in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Lawmakers in Florida have sent a similar bill to their governor for approval. The legislation has been introduced in 20 other states this year. The national bipartisan effort to give terminally ill Americans access to investigational medications is being led by the Goldwater Institute.
“The way Senator Connelly and Representative Harris worked together to make sure this effort was bipartisan is remarkable,” said Kurt Altman, national policy advisor at the Goldwater Institute. “Their work is a model for how lawmakers can come together and get good things done for those facing life-threatening illnesses.”
“Americans shouldn’t have to ask the government for permission to try to save their own lives,” said Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute. “They should be able to work with their doctors directly to decide what potentially life-saving treatments they are willing to try. This is exactly what Right To Try does—it removes barriers that limit medical practitioners from providing care they are trained to give.”
The FDA has a process that allows people to ask permission to access investigational medicines, but fewer than 1,000 people a year receive help. Others die while waiting on their approval. The FDA recently announced plans to shorten the application form. “A simpler form is window dressing on an archaic and inhumane system that prevents the vast majority of Americans with terminal illnesses from accessing promising investigational treatments. Patients must still beg the federal government for permission to try to save their own lives—it’s just a shorter form,” said Olsen.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both editorialized that the Right To Try movement is prompting long overdue change at the FDA.
Right To Try is limited to patients with a terminal disease that have exhausted all conventional treatment options and cannot enroll in a clinical trial. All medications available under the law must have successfully completed basic safety testing and be part of the FDA’s on-going approval process.
“Governor Rauner has the opportunity to help thousands of Illinoisans with this bill. We hope he signs it without delay,” said Olsen.
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About the Goldwater Institute The Goldwater Institute drives results by working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and strengthen the freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the constitutions of the United States and all 50 states. With the blessing of its namesake, the Goldwater Institute opened in 1988. Its early years focused on defending liberty in Barry Goldwater’s home state of Arizona. Today, the Goldwater Institute is a national leader for constitutionally limited government respected by the left and right for its adherence to principle and real world impact. No less a liberal icon than the New York Times calls the Goldwater Institute a “watchdog for conservative ideals” that plays an “outsize role” in American political life.
