Right to Try 2.0 Gives New Hope to Georgia’s Most Vulnerable Patients
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Tony West, the Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity, Georgia.
Newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought an increased focus on the importance of individualized health care with his Make America Healthy Again campaign. While the issue of health care has received more national attention as of late, protecting patients’ right to access treatment isn’t a new priority for Georgia’s lawmakers or Americans for Prosperity.
With the introduction of Senator Matt Brass’ Senate Bill 72, there is renewed hope for Georgia’s most vulnerable patients. If passed by the House, the Hope for Georgia’s Patients Act would secure the right of patients and their doctors to utilize investigational treatments for life- threatening illnesses after exhausting all other means of treatment. This means that patients would have access to new sources of treatment that are not yet on the market and may give them a new lease on life.
Senate Bill 72 would build off Georgia’s original Right to Try law passed in 2016. The extension of this policy, known as Right to Try 2.0, is an action that six states have taken so far, with many more legislatures considering such legislation this session. Right to Try 2.0 expands on the progress made in the original legislation to further protect patients’ right to access individualized treatments. Congress passed the Right to Try Act of 2017, which was signed by President Trump in May 2018, after the legislation had already been adopted by 41 states.
The original Right to Try law allowed patients with life-threatening illnesses who have exhausted all other treatment options to access drugs and therapies not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It typically takes 10 years for a new drug to be approved by the FDA, which is precious time that most patients with life-threatening illnesses do not have. Instead of requiring patients in dire need of treatment to wait for this lengthy process to be completed, Right to Try legislation allows these patients and their doctors to try experimental treatments that have not yet been given the FDA’s stamp of approval after all other conventional methods have been exhausted.
Right to Try 2.0 legislation, like the bill Georgia lawmakers are considering, expands the original program to include individualized, genetically targeted treatments. This use of personalized medicine allows patients and their doctors to access not only experimental treatments that have not yet received FDA approval, but also highly specific individualized therapies that are tailored to the patient’s genetic profile. Americans for Prosperity believes that access to these hyper-custom treatments is profoundly important as health care is an innately personal experience that patients and their trusted providers should have control over.
Right to Try 2.0 gives newfound hope to patients and their caregivers who, under the FDA’s outdated system of treatment approval, have no other options. Instead of patients in critical condition having the tough decision of choosing between traveling outside of the country for a broader selection of advanced treatments or accepting the limitations of the FDA’s approved treatments, these patients can stay with their families and trusted health care providers to try novel, individualized treatments that are customized to their specific needs.
The passage of Senate Bill 72 would give Georgia’s most vulnerable patients and their tireless health care providers a renowned sense of hope. The Georgia General Assembly should recommit to their support of individualized health care and the right to access treatment by passing the Hope for Georgia’s Patients Act. Georgians deserve a Personal Option when it comes to their health care.
