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Rep. Paul proposes end to FDA's blocking of experimental drugs for the terminally ill
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) proposed a bill before leaving for the August break that would override the Food and Drug Administration's ability to block access to experimental drugs to terminally ill patients.
Paul said his bill is needed because the FDA should not be able to stand in the way of experimental drugs that might be a last chance of survival for patients with no other treatment options.
"The FDA's approval process for drugs, devices, and treatments is costly and time consuming," he said. "Yet, time is the luxury terminally patients do not enjoy. So why should the FDA deny terminally-ill patients access to drugs, devices, and treatments that the patient's physicians have determined represents the patent's only possible chance for survival?"
Paul cited examples of patients who might have beneftted from these drugs, such as Abigail Burroughs, who had head and neck cancer at a young age and was denied access to two drugs not approved by the FDA. "With her only chance of survival denied by the federal government, Abigail passed away on June 9, 2001, at the age of twenty-one," Paul said.
He also cited another girl with cancer whose parents petitioned the FDA for approval to try experimental drugs, but the FDA did not grant her a compassionate use exemption until three weeks before she died.
"It is important to remember that this legislation only applies to otherwise terminally ill patients," he said. "Denying these patents a possible opportunity to cure their illness — or at least reduce their suffering — is nonsensical and cruel."
Two Republicans co-sponsored the bill: Reps. Paul Broun (Ga.) and Richard Hanna (N.Y.).
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