House Finally Passes Right to Try. If First You Don ’t Succeed, Try, Try Again.

The United States Senate previously approved legislation that would allow the terminally ill to access experimental drugs, commonly known as “Right to Try.” A few weeks back, the United States House of Representatives failed to pass the legislation, with a vote of 259 to 140, under a suspension of the House rules, which requires any bill to take two-thirds support in order to pass, instead of a simple majority. On March 21, 2018, however, the House of Representatives took up the bill once again, and passed it with a vote of 267-149. It was a bipartisan moment, as 32 Democrats joined all but 2 Republicans to pass the legislation.  President Donald Trump previously showed his support for the bill in his State of the Union address in January 2018. “People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure,” he said. “I want to give them a chance right here at home. It’s time for Congress to give these wonderful, incredible Americans the right to try.” The House and Senate bills would establish a new pathway providing access to unapproved prescription drugs for certain patients who had exhausted other treatment options. Under the Senate bill, patients with “a life-threatening disease or condition” could obtain unapproved drugs, but eligibility under the House bill was more narrowly defined. To qualify under the House bill, a patient would have to have some kind of terminal illness: a condition that is likely to ca...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs