Right to try laws

I have mixed emotions on right to try laws. These are laws which hope to circumvent federal laws and get drug companies go make new and experimental drugs available to patients who are looking for that one last chance, when all other possibilities have been exhausted.

Colorado, Missouri, and Louisiana have already passed these laws due to strong social media programs.With right to try, the patient needs a prescription or recommendation from their doctor for th e new drug that they take straight to the drug company.

It sounds like a good idea for patients who are looking for that last chance. There are patients who have benefitted from these last chances but here are the issues:

• the FDA already has a program for compassionate use where patients have to fill out s lengthy form that usually gets approved.
• Drug companies who provide drugs under state law and ignore federal law run the risk of making the federal government a bit unhappy,

While streamlining the federal governments approval process may not be a bad idea, circumventing the federal government might not be the smartest idea. I think I would want to lobby my federal, not state, legislators to recognize that patients are smarter these days.