A Better Way to Provide a 'Right to Try'

The idea that gravely ill patients should have access to experimental medicines is morally unassailable. A bill before Congress to establish a national “right to try,” however, is the wrong way of going about it.

Passed by unanimous consent in the Senate last fall and endorsed with gusto by President Donald Trump in his State of the Union speech, the legislation would allow Americans to use yet-to-be-approved drugs that have passed only preliminary safety tests -- without permission from the Food and Drug Administration. The bill is similar to right-to-try laws that have been passed by 38 states.