Frequently Searched

MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE APPROVES ‘RIGHT TO TRY’ EXPERIMENTAL MEDICATIONS BILL

October 5, 2014

(10/1/2014) The Michigan legislature today approved Right to Try legislation (SB991), which provides terminally ill patients access to potentially life-saving medications not yet fully approved by the FDA. The popular bill will now move to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) desk for signature. Michigan would become the fourth state behind Colorado, Missouri and Louisiana to enact the Right to Try law, which provides hope to terminal patients who have exhausted traditional treatment options.

“There is nothing worse than watching a loved one pass away before your eyes,” said Victor Riches, VP of External Affairs at the Goldwater Institute.  “Right to Try gives patients the ability to do everything in their power to try to save their own lives.”

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 drug approval process, but may still be years away from market approval.

More than 1,000,000 Americans die each year of terminal illness. Under the current FDA system, it takes over a decade to bring a single life-saving treatment to market, and fewer than three percent of the sickest patients are able to access medications through clinical trials. This means that thousands of Americans will die each year without access to potentially life saving medicines. For many terminally ill patients, experimental medications are their only hope.

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

###

To schedule an interview with Victor Riches please contact Michael Kelley at the Goldwater Institute at (602) 633-8965 or mkelley@goldwaterinstitute.org. If you are affiliated with a national network, the Goldwater Institute has an in-house VideoLink studio for rapid cable hook-up at no cost, and can make Institute spokespeople available for live in-person interviews upon request.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!