Two bills have been filed in the Illinois General Assembly that would effectively nullify some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that prevent treatments from being used by terminally ill patients.

Senate Bill 29 (SB29) and House Bill 207 (HB207) serves as the latest pushback against the FDA and its controversial methodology of approving drugs for mass consumption.

If passed, both bills would allow an eligible patient with a terminal illness to use an investigational drug, biological product, or device that has successfully completed Phase 1 of a clinical trial, but has not been approved for general use by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Both bills also would also specifically stipulate that the state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation may not “revoke, suspend, place on probation, reprimand, refuse to issue or renew, or take any other disciplinary or non-disciplinary action against the license or permit of a physician to practice medicine based solely on the physician’s recommendation to an eligible patient regarding, or prescription for, or treatment with an investigational drug, biological product, or device.”

HB207 has been referred to House Rules Committee. SB29 has been assigned to the Assignments Committee.

These bills make up part of a greater trend promoting medical freedom sweeping the nation. During this most recent November election, Arizona residents approved Prop. 303, known as the Arizona Terminal Patients’ Right to Try Referendum. The proposition allows investigational drugs, biological products or devices to be made available to eligible terminally ill patients, not permitted under the FDA.

Legislatures in ColoradoMichiganMissouri, and Louisiana, have already passed Right to Try Laws similar to the Arizona amendment.

Although these laws only address one small aspect of FDA regulation, they provide us with a clear model demonstrating how to nullify federal statutes that violate the Constitution. The strategy narrows the influence of nullification to limited aspects of the law itself. The strategy works because it focuses on ending specific federal policies large numbers of Americans from across the political spectrum oppose.

Dying people should not be deprived of their right to any means that might ease their pain or keep them alive, and it is extremely difficult for opponents to argue that dying people should be forced to use only drugs approved of by bureaucrats who are incapable of empathizing with their possible suffering.

In Louisiana, for example, the law received 80 percent approval, according to one survey. In three of the states that passed “Right to Try” laws, not a single politician voted nay. In Michigan, the entire state House voted yea with no abstentions, while only two senators voted against it.

The cumbersome bureaucratic process deployed by the FDA makes Right to Try laws necessary. It can take more than a decade and a billion dollars to get new medications on the market, according to Lucy Caldwell, communications director for the Goldwater Institute.

Mikaela Knapp provides a compelling real-life example.

According to a World Net Daily report when Knapp was diagnosed with kidney cancer, she and her husband, Keith, launched a social media campaign to lobby drug firms and the FDA to give her access to a new gene therapy. Their efforts gained national attention and generated 200,000 signatures on a petition at Change.org but failed to win access to the treatment. The 25-year-old newlywed died April 24.

The ugly truth is she died waiting for somebody’s permission that never came.

This serves as yet another example of failure in Washington D.C. The FDA shows no inclination to change its rules, and Congress has not made any move to loosen restrictions, despite countless stories like Knapp’s.

The courts haven’t helped either. In 2003, a federal judge ruledthat terminally ill people do not have a right to access to investigational medicine. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal on that ruling.

The fact that federal regulatory agencies and federal courts refuse to show compassion for terminally ill patients make state Right to Try bills crucial. HB207 would bypass stubborn federal bureaucrats and give hope to those suffering from terminal illness.

The bill has yet to be assigned to a committee.

ACTION ITEMS

In Illinois: Support this bill by following the action steps at THIS LINK

In Other States: Take the steps to get a similar bill passed in your state at this link.

TJ Martinell