RI House Passes Bill Allowing Terminally Ill Patients to Use Experimental Drugs

RI House Passes Bill Allowing Terminally Ill Patients to Use Experimental Drugs

The Rhode Island House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow chronically ill patients to get experimental drugs that have not yet been federally approved, but which may be in the final stages of FDA testing.

The bill is named after East Greenwich’s Neil Fachon.

As GoLocalProv reported, Fachon had been accepted into a newly opened clinical trial.

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Due to rulings by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he was denied the drug for a period of time and the Fachons had to file a lawsuit in Federal Court reversing the FDA’s decision. 

Neil passed away on February 19, 2017.

“When a drug trial is canceled, it can be devastating for individuals who saw a result from that trial. That’s a situation that many Rhode Islanders are in today. The relevance of this bill has become more pronounced in today’s world of clinical trials. I want Rhode Island to do all it can to give these people hope. I want Rhode Island to give terminally ill patients the ‘right to try’ anything that might help them,” said State Representative Joseph McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston).

The legislation now moves to the Senate.

The Bill

The legislation (2020-H 7266) would create the Rhode Island Terminally Ill Patients Right to Try Act of 2020.

Under the legislation, a terminally ill patient may make a request for an experimental drug and a manufacturer of an experimental drug, biological produce or device may make it available, but is not required to do so.

The legislation provides protections for all parties (patients and medical professionals) and insurance companies are also protected because there is no requirement for them to cover the cost of any investigational drugs.