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za84 replied to the topic Right to Try Law in the forum Clinical Research Basics 7 years, 3 months ago
I have conflicting opinions about the Right to Try Law. Clearly, if someone is seriously ill and all medical treatment options have been exhausted, and the doctors say that there is no FDA-approved medication that would help me, however, there’s a drug company that developed a treatment that might work, even with a 1% chance, it is reasonable that the patient’s will is honored and his wish is granted in that slight hope. On the other hand, this might be exploited by some companies, even if the current law allows only for charging the patient the direct cost of treatment, and not a profitable charge. I think that Big Pharma companies would find a way to make profits of these non-FDA approved drugs. How? One classical trick is to employ a US-written law and advertise that abroad and make the case that if it was that dangerous it would not have been allowed in the US, to begin with. With a slight overcharge on the drug transportation overseas, Big Pharma might push their agenda on foreign medical centers where bribery and corruption are common and all of a sudden, their non-FDA approved drug may end up being the first in line to that particular disease. Not to mention that if we allow non-FDA approved drugs to be consumed legally, that would leave the door wide open for that company to create a buzz in the drugs black market globally. On the contrary, if the FDA has a firm stand that a particular drug has no positive effect on the patient’s treatment, and might result in fatal effects, the company won’t have that strong of a case to advertise for their medication in question.