On Wednesday, the right to try” bill on experimental drugs was passed by The House. In the previous week, the House Republican leaders passed this legislation on the floor. The Democrats objected because they strongly felt that safety measures would be bypass by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration.)
The bill needed two-thirds support for it to be passed but it failed to reach the support it needed. Nevertheless, the House Republican leaders made it perfectly clear that the bill would be taken up again by the House.
The House just required a simple majority in order to pass the bill on their second attempt, which they did so easily. The results of the vote calculated up to be 267 to 149.
Thirty-five of the Democrats voted in favor of the passing of the bill, whereas two Republicans were in opposition to it. Now, it is left up to the Senate pass the measure.
Senator Ron Johnson (Republican -Wisconsin) who has backed the passing of the legislation in the Senate insisted his chamber to promptly pass the measure.
“Right to try needs to become the law of the land. It passed the Senate unanimously last summer, and I’m disappointed the House didn’t pass that bill and send it to the president for his signature,” said Senator Ron Johnson in a statement.
“Nonetheless, I plan to ask my colleagues to pass right to try again immediately. Terminally ill patients and their families have waited long enough.”
House Republicans reviewed the bill keeping the complaints from some supporters in mind. The Republicans hoped that the Senate edition would pass, hoping to avoid the ping-ponging amongst the two chambers.
The bill will allow the terminally ill patients to request the right to use those drugs that the FDA has not yet permitted of. This will save these patients the trouble of going to the agency. Patients will be able to request their drugs right from manufacturers. This will be applicable for all those medicines that are under FDA consideration and have been through a minor clinical trial.
“By allowing patients access to investigational treatments that have only completed a phase 1 clinical trial, patients will be exposed to treatments with no or relatively little data that they are actually effective,” said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (New Jersey), Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“These extremely small trials only examine the safety and toxicity of a drug and do not determine the effectiveness or potential side effects.”
Supporters of this measure have debated that those individuals having a terminal disease should have every means at their disposal so that they can try a medicine that could maybe help or save them.
Representative Morgan Griffith (Republican -Virginia) has been reported to have said that in case it was faced with a life-threatening illness, he would “take any risk, including injecting monkey urine if that meant I could spend a few more days, months or years with my children.”