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Alliance Releases Statement on The Right to Try Act of 2018

Published March 20, 2018

United States Capitol Building with American flag.

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2018 – Alliance for Aging Research (Alliance) President and CEO Susan Peschin, MHS, issued the following statement in anticipation of the second House vote on H.R. 5247: The Right to Try Act of 2018:

The Alliance for Aging Research urges House members to reject H.R. 5247, The Right to Try Act of 2018, when it comes up for a vote under standard procedure this week. Four former commissioners of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and nearly 80 national patient advocacy organizations, have expressed opposition to the bill because it would remove FDA protections from the process of allowing terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs not yet approved by the agency. The FDA already has an expanded-access program for approving experimental drugs for patients who are not in clinical trials. The FDA’s program includes important safeguards to help ensure that the potential patient benefit justifies the potential risk of the expanded access use of the investigational drug, and that the potential risk is not excessive in the context of the disease or condition to be treated. The program receives more than 1,000 requests a year and approves 99 percent. This bill would remove those key safety protections for patients without addressing basic obstacles to accessing experimental medications. FDA is taking meaningful steps toward tackling remaining obstacles to expanded access for patients. We urge Congress to vote against H.R. 5247.

About the Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance believes advances in research help people live longer, happier, more productive lives and reduce healthcare costs over the long term. For more than 30 years, the Alliance has guided efforts to substantially increase funding and focus for aging at the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration; built influential coalitions to guide groundbreaking regulatory improvements for age-related diseases; and created award-winning, high-impact educational materials to improve the health and well-being of older adults and their family caregivers. For more information, visit www.agingresearch.org

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