State lawmakers want to expand North Carolina’s “Right To Try” law that allows some patients to try experimental drugs or medical treatments.
The legislature passed the first “Right To Try” law in 2015. It allows doctors to provide some medications and treatments that aren’t approved by the Federal Drug Administration. Only patients with terminal or life-threatening conditions are eligible.
A bill that passed its first Senate committee vote Wednesday would expand the law to new genomic and genetic treatments.
“These are treatments that are still in research and experimental phases,” said Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston, the bill’s sponsor. “So they have not gone through some of the necessary trials. There’s an example of a medication to treat a rare brain disorder that’s been approved in Europe since 2020. Patients are currently leaving the United States to go to Europe to receive that genetic treatment and then coming back here.”
The bill would not require insurance to cover any of the experimental treatments, and the producer of the drug or treatment wouldn’t be legally responsible if the patient dies. No one spoke against the bill. (source)