Utah “Right To Try” Law To Receive Hearing on Tuesday
Contact: Starlee Coelman, (602) 758-9162
Salt Lake City—A law to give terminally ill patients access to medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process but are not yet on pharmacy shelves is scheduled for a hearing and public testimony in the state Senate Health Committee on Tuesday.
HB0094—The Utah Right to Try Act—is sponsored by Rep. Gage Froerer and Senator Evan Vickers. The State House has already passed the bill with overwhelming bipartisan support on a 77-1 vote. The Senate Health Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill on tomorrow, Tuesday, February 24, at 8:00 a.m.
Right To Try laws are already in place in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri. Twenty-seven states in addition to Utah are considering the law this year. Twelve of those states have already passed the law through one chamber of their Legislatures since January 1. The national bipartisan effort to give terminally ill Americans access to investigational medications is being led by the Goldwater Institute.
The FDA has a process that allows people to ask permission to access investigational medicines. This “Compassionate Use” process takes hundreds of hours of paperwork and months to navigate. While many people ultimately receive FDA permission, there are dozens of documented cases of people dying while waiting on their approval.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both editorialized about the Right To Try movement’s impact on the FDA’s compassionate use process recently.
“Americans shouldn’t have to ask the government for permission to try to save their own lives,” said Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute. “They should be able to work with their doctors directly to decide what potential treatments they are willing to try. We are thrilled that Nevada lawmakers are considering this potentially life-saving law.”
What: Hearing on HB 0094—the Right To Try Law
When: Tuesday, Feb 24, 8:00 a.m.
Where: Utah State Capitol, Room 250
Details: Right To Try fact sheet attached to this email
