WASHINGTON — House Democrats united late Tuesday to defeat a controversial “right-to-try” measure aimed at giving dying patients easier access to experimental therapies — but Republicans are already vowing to take another stab at passing the legislation.
“The House will not let this be the end,” Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said in a statement. “We will try again, pass legislation, and bring hope to those whose only desire is the right to try to live.”
The legislation itself sets up a new pathway to let patients with a terminal illness try drugs that haven’t yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Supporters say it’s an important measure that will clear bureaucratic hurdles for people who don’t have time to wait. Critics, however, point out that the FDA already has a program for helping such patients try experimental drugs. And they balk at limiting the FDA’s oversight role, arguing it will leave patients more vulnerable to bad actors or bad therapies.
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