House and Senate Agree on Right to Try for Terminally Ill Patients

(Washington, DC) – Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) issued the following statement after the House passed S. 204, the Right to Try Act, which would allow very sick or terminally ill patients to request access to drugs and treatments that have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After a similar bill passed the House in March, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked the bill from Senate consideration. The Senate then passed their own bill, S. 204, with unanimous consent. After passing the House, this legislation will now be sent to the President's desk.

LaMalfa said: "After months of jumping through parliamentary hoops to pass this legislation out of both the House and the Senate, we're finally able to put the Right to Try Act on the President's desk. This is a bipartisan issue – so far 40 states have already adopted Right to Try laws, but are unable to actually enforce them. This bill changes that. While giving terminally ill patients the right to try experimental medicine won't always be successful, it does give patients one final avenue of hope. For those who've exhausted all other possibilities of conventional treatment, they deserve the opportunity to leave no stone left unturned. I'm disappointed that some in the Senate chose to delay this very time-sensitive bill, but I'm pleased that the President can now make Right to Try the law of the land."

In March, Rep. LaMalfa spoke on the House floor to voice his displeasure that the House was unable to pass the Right to Try Act in a timely manner. [YouTube]

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