A bill allowing terminally ill patients the right to try experimental drug treatments not approved by the Food and Drug Administration was blocked Wednesday by Senate Democrats.
The bill was introduced in May 2016 by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and includes two Democratic co-sponsors. In a statement, Johnson blasted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and accused him of playing politics in nixing the bill.
“It is beyond disappointing that Senator Reid would ignore the pleas of those with terminal illnesses to score a political point,” Johnson said. “Matt Bellina, a retired Navy fighter
Similar bills have been signed into law in several states, but there is no current federal counterpart to the state laws.
Supporters say the bill is not designed to force manufacturers to provide such experimental drugs; rather it only gives terminally ill patients the right to request their use. However, the FDA has a policy of expanded access which may render a “right-to-try” bill moot.
"The present system, which is expanded access through the FDA, actually gets people access to drugs,” Allison Bateman-House, a bioethicist and public health expert at NYU Langone Medical Center, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “There is no confirmed instance of anyone getting a drug through right-to-try. On the face of it, one policy works, one policy doesn't."
Johnson will attempt to have the bill passed by unanimous consent, although the move is unlikely to be successful as a single senator can block the request.
