Governor Haslam signed the Phil Timp-Amanda Wilcox Right to Try Act into law on Friday. Governor Haslam signed the bill after both the Tennessee state Senate and House unanimously passed Right to Try.
The new law will allow terminally ill patients to access medicine that has been deemed safe by the Food & Drug Administration but has yet to receive the agency's final approval.
"This is a day of hope for all Tennesseans," said Beacon Policy Director Lindsay Boyd. "By passing the Right to Try bill, Governor Haslam and the state legislature have given terminally ill patients a fighting chance. We truly appreciate Amanda Wilcox, the bill sponsors, legislators who voted for this bill, and Governor Bill Haslam. This bill shows that doing the right thing isn't a partisan issue."
“We all know the pain of losing someone we love to a terminal illness,” said Darcy Olsen, the president of the Goldwater Institute, the group leading the national, bipartisan Right To Try effort. “If you know there’s a treatment that is helping people survive, who is anyone to say ‘No; you don’t have the right to try to save your own life or to save your child’s life’? Of course you do. Of course people should have the right to try promising medicines when they are fighting for their lives.”
Right To Try laws are already in place in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. The law has been introduced in 20 additional states this year.
Amanda Wilcox, a young vocal artist in Nashville, has been the face of the Right To Try effort in Tennessee. Ms. Wilcox has colon and thyroid cancer and has not responded to available treatments. She wants the right to try investigational medicines that could help her.
The FDA allows individual patients to file an application for permission to access investigational medicines, but fewer than 1,000 people a year receive help. Others die while waiting on their approval. The FDA recently announced plans to shorten the application form. “A simpler form is window dressing for an inhumane system that prevents the vast majority of Americans with terminal illnesses from accessing promising investigational treatments," said Ms. Olsen. "Compassionate use should be the rule for everyone, not the exception."
Right To Try is limited to patients with a terminal disease that have exhausted all conventional treatment options and cannot enroll in a clinical trial. All medications available under the law must have successfully completed basic safety testing and be part of the FDA’s on-going approval process.
The Tennessee Right to Try Act was sponsored by State Representatives Jon Lundberg, Goins, Butt, Weaver, McManus, Terry and Daniel. The Beacon Center was also instrumental in passing the law.
“This law will give terminally ill people in Tennessee hope when they need it most,” said Ms. Olsen.
Follow progress of the national Right To Try movement on Facebook.