Federal Right-to-Try Legislation Blocked

The Senate was blocked from considering a federal right-to-try bill after it was brought up for unanimous consent by its sponsor, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). The legislation would prohibit FDA from denying terminally ill patients access to unapproved treatments in clinical development, and would bar the agency from considering any adverse events reported from those patients in its review decisions.

The legislation was blocked by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said the bill should have a hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.

“It hasn’t been through the committee process, as we were promised we would have, with the outstanding issues dealing with this policy,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “There are major players in this that have simply not had the opportunity to tell us what’s wrong with the bill.” Johnson plans to continue to work for passage of the legislation.