Washington D.C. -- U.S. Representative Ted Budd (R-NC) released the following statement after passage of the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017:
In his State of the Union Address earlier this year, President Trump said:
“We also believe that patients with terminal conditions should have access to experimental treatments that could potentially save their lives. People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure — I want to give them a chance right here at home. It is time for the Congress to give these wonderful Americans the right to try.”
“Today, the House gave these Americans that right. Even though this legislation ran into some unnecessary, partisan hurdles, the bill we passed today will give terminally ill patients access to potentially life-saving experimental medication or treatment. Right now, the bureaucracy of the FDA is keeping many Americans - who are desperate to try anything new to save their lives - from doing so. The bill would prevent the government from blocking a patient’s access to drugs that have only undergone preliminary testing, and before gaining access a patient needs to have tried all other possible treatments.
"I applaud President Trump for his leadership on this issue and it’s my hope that this is only the first step in giving more Americans freedom, in regards to their health care.”
